Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirms the steadfast U.S.-Israel alliance amid controversy over recent Israeli military actions in Qatar, while addressing broader foreign policy challenges.
JERUSALEM: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that the U.S. relationship with Israel remains strong, despite the backlash following Israel’s recent strike targeting Hamas negotiators in Qatar. In an exclusive interview with Fox News in Jerusalem, Rubio stated, “We’re going to continue to be strong allies and partners.” He acknowledged that while President Biden expressed dissatisfaction with how events unfolded, it does not alter the United States’ commitment to its partnership with Israel.
Rubio is scheduled to travel to Doha on Tuesday, where he plans to encourage Qatar to maintain a “constructive role” in efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict in Gaza and facilitate the release of hostages held by Hamas. “We’re visiting again with them very shortly here in the next day as well,” he noted. “We understand they’re upset about it. We understand the Israeli position on it. Irrespective of that, we still have hostages that we want released. We still have a Hamas that needs to be defeated or eradicated or removed so that we can get to the peace that everybody says they want.”
His visit to Qatar, a key non-NATO ally, comes on the heels of an Arab-Islamic summit that addressed Israel’s military actions. The summit produced a draft resolution that criticized Israel for “threatening the prospects of peace and coexistence in the region.” Rubio emphasized the need for all parties to focus on future solutions rather than dwelling solely on past actions. “We’re trying to get everybody to stay focused on what happens moving forward, not just only focus on what’s already happened with what happened last week in Doha,” he said.
When asked about U.S. support for Israel’s potential annexation of parts of the West Bank, Rubio refrained from providing a direct answer. Instead, he pointed to the influence of other nations, suggesting that their recognition of a Palestinian state has pressured Israel into considering such actions. “We warned it would force Israel to now do things in reaction to that,” he explained. “Part of this conversation about annexation is in response to what’s been coming out of Europe and Canada and other countries with this Palestinian statehood move, which is largely symbolic, but yet has these real-world implications in terms of making it harder to achieve peace.”
Rubio also addressed concerns regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions following his recent summit with President Trump. Despite reports of Russian drone incursions in Poland and Romania, Rubio denied that Putin had been “emboldened” by the meeting. “This is an example of why this war, the President thinks, needs to end. Wars generally will escalate. They’ll actually get worse, not better,” he remarked. He noted that the drone operations are not directly impacting the front lines and are primarily intended to weaken opposing forces. He added that Ukraine is also conducting strikes within Russia, underscoring the complexity of the ongoing conflict.
Additionally, Rubio responded to allegations that the United States had placed a bounty on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro after announcing a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest. “Nicolas Maduro was indicted by the Southern District of New York. A grand jury returned an indictment. They read the evidence, they saw the evidence, they returned an indictment, not just against him personally, but against a network of people in that country who use the apparatus of what they claim to be of government to conduct drug trafficking operations against the United States,” he stated.
Rubio further clarified Maduro’s status, asserting, “He’s not the president of Venezuela, that’s the title he’s given himself. What he is, is someone who’s empowered himself of some of the instruments of government, and they’re using that to operate a drug cartel from Venezuelan territory.” He emphasized the national security implications of drug trafficking, stating, “When you traffic drugs into the United States, you’re meddling into the internal affairs of America. When you are pushing drugs towards the United States of America, you are a direct threat to the national security and the national interest of the United States. And that’s what we’re addressing here.”
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