Former US president Barack Obama said on Tuesday that Israel “took land off people and they were excessive,” in reference to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people throughout the history of the nation.

Obama made his comments while visiting Belfast, Northern Ireland, to receive an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast.

In a conversation with journalist Susan McKay, the former president referred to the Palestinians’ reaction to the Jewish people’s exerting cultural and military control over the State of Israel by explaining that “those people understandably said, ‘This is injustice, and I want my land back.'”