• Serinus@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Yes, he has a responsibility to both side a conflict as a diplomat trying to maintain influence with Israel, the side that has all the power.

    Civilians are always hostages. It’d be more reasonable to call the Palestinians being held hostages than to call the Israeli hostages “prisoners of war”. There’s also clearly more of a delineation between the IDF and the Israeli civilians than there is in the Gaza populace and the “fighters”. Partly because Israelis are the aggressors, of course.

    He can’t be a person who just rages on social media about it if he wants the best outcome.

    You can definitely argue that this is caving to Israel. He’s literally being the definition of the word “diplomatic”.

    • shawn1122@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      In the presence of genocide I believe he can be judged by a more absolute moral barometer, regardless of his role or designation.

      How does history reflect on those that remained silent during the Holocaust or Armenian genocide?

      Obama seeks to put himself in that group with his assessment here.