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Rubio arrives in Israel amid tensions over strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar Rubio in Israel for talks to limit diplomatic damage over Qatar strikes
(about 4 hours later)
US secretary of state says Trump ‘not happy’ about Israeli attack that targeted Hamas officials in Doha for Gaza talksUS secretary of state says Trump ‘not happy’ about Israeli attack that targeted Hamas officials in Doha for Gaza talks
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has arrived in Israel seeking to mend a rift with Washington’s other allies in the region over Israel’s attempted assassination of Hamas leaders in Qatar and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has held talks in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In talks with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Rubio will try to balance criticism of the Israeli airstrike on a Doha building, which killed aides to a Hamas leader and a Qatari security officer, with a message of overall support for Israel before the expected formal recognition of Palestine by a number of other US allies, including the UK, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium. The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking his American visitor underground to view archeological excavations.
Rubio, before his departure on Sunday, told reporters: “Obviously, we’re not happy about it. The president was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next.” He said the incident was “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis”. “This alliance has never been stronger,” Netanyahu told reporters. “It’s as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall that we just touched.”
He paused in apparent expectation that the secretary of state would speak, but Rubio said nothing. Part of his mission on this two-day visit is to convey Donald Trump’s irritation at the Tuesday’s Israeli missile strike on Doha which was aimed at Hamas leadership but killed their aides and a Qatari security officer.
The attack has shaken faith among Washington’s allies in the Arab world that the US can protect them, and particularly infuriated Qatar, a close ally who the US has encouraged to host Hamas officials and broker negotiations.
On the eve of an emergency summit of Arab and Islamic leaders called by Qatar, its prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged the international community to “stop using double standards” and punish Israel for what he described as its “crimes”.
However, Rubio has signalled that he intends to balance criticism of Israel with a message of broad support for Israel, at a time it is facing ever broader accusations of genocide, an arrest warrant for Netanyahu from the international criminal court, and a looming UN general assembly summit next week, at which some other leading US allies including the UK, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are expected to recognise Palestine.
Rubio, before his departure on Sunday, discussed the Qatar strike with reporters. “Obviously, we’re not happy about it. The president was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next,” Rubio said. He added, however, that the incident was “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis”.
The Netanyahu government is seeking to play down any rift with the Trump administration over the Doha strike, while remaining defiant over the attack.The Netanyahu government is seeking to play down any rift with the Trump administration over the Doha strike, while remaining defiant over the attack.
“We have a very close dialogue with the administration. We’re coordinated with them and, relatively speaking, the American reaction was reasonable,” the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said on Israeli army radio. “At the UN security council they expressed reservations, but the reservations were minor. We took into account that this would have a price.“We have a very close dialogue with the administration. We’re coordinated with them and, relatively speaking, the American reaction was reasonable,” the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said on Israeli army radio. “At the UN security council they expressed reservations, but the reservations were minor. We took into account that this would have a price.
“The Qataris are trying to ride on this. From their perspective, they are leveraging this incident. From our perspective, we delivered the clear message that we will pursue the terrorists everywhere.”“The Qataris are trying to ride on this. From their perspective, they are leveraging this incident. From our perspective, we delivered the clear message that we will pursue the terrorists everywhere.”
Asked if he was concerned about threats by Israeli officials to carry out further strikes in Qatar, Rubio said: “We’re going to meet with them. We’re going to talk about what the future holds. I’m going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward. Rubio’s public itinerary has been designed to emphasise biblical archeology favourable to Jewish claims to Jerusalem, which are at the heart of American evangelical support for Israel. At the Western Wall on Sunday, Israeli security officers separated female reporters from the press pack and confined them to a separate, adjacent compound, where they could not see Netanyahu or Rubio. Asked why, the officers said that the two men were going to pray and the separation was for religious reasons.
After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain this week, which will reportedly soon receive its first group of injured and sick children from Gaza for treatment. On Monday, Rubio is due to visit the City of David archaeological park, which has been established by a settler group in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan. It includes a tunnel excavated under Palestinian homes which is supposed to mark the path taken by pilgrims to the Jewish temple in the Roman era. Critics say the park is an example of archeology being used in the service of politics.
Rubio visited the Western Wall with Benjamin Netanyahu while in Jerusalem on Sunday. Rubio is being accompanied on his tour by the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister who has been a fervent supporter of settler and Israeli territorial expansionism.
The attack by Israel against Hamas leaders in an upmarket neighbourhood of Doha on Tuesday marked Israel’s first such strike against US ally Qatar, putting renewed strain on diplomatic efforts to bring about a truce in war-ravaged Gaza and drawing international criticism. Huckabee has also led the US defence of Israel’s war in Gaza, where the official death toll is approaching 65,000, with thousands more feared buried in the ruins. Israel has ordered the estimated million people sheltering in Gaza City to move south as it mounts a new offensive against Hamas there, which has involved destroying one apartment block after another.
Trump has openly chided Netanyahu over the attack, which targeted Hamas leaders gathering to discuss a new ceasefire proposal put forward by the US. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had destroyed three more blocks on Sunday, claiming Hamas had put surveillance equipment on their rooftops. At least 13 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip, according to local hospitals.
Netanyahu has defended the operation, saying on Saturday that killing senior Hamas officials would remove the “main obstacle” to ending the war. The Israeli military’s top lawyer is reported to have called for a delay to the evacuation of Gaza City until more humanitarian facilities were available in the south, but her advice was ignored, according to Haaretz newspaper.
The talk of a ceasefire, still out of reach after months of failed negotiations, came as Israel has been intensifying its campaign in the Gaza Strip. After Israel, Rubio is due to fly to the UK for Trump’s state visit, during which policy towards Israel and the recognition of Palestine will be a major irritant. On Friday the UN general assembly voted 142-10 to endorse a two-state solution to the conflict, involving a Palestinian state in which Hamas would be blocked from any role in government.
In recent days, it has ramped up efforts to seize control of Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban area, telling people to evacuate and blowing up numerous high-rise buildings it said were being used by Hamas.
While thousands of people have evacuated the city, according to the Israeli military and Hamas, many more remain.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 32 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday.
Netanyahu and his government have defied international criticism throughout the nearly two-year war, but it continued to mount this week.
On Friday, the UN general assembly voted to back a revival of the two-state solution, in open defiance of Israeli opposition.
Israeli allies Britain and France, alongside several other western countries, are preparing to recognise Palestinian statehood at a UN gathering this month out of exasperation at Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war and in the occupied West Bank.
London and Paris, joined by Berlin, also called for an immediate halt to Israel’s offensive in Gaza City. Nevertheless, Israel retains the backing of its most powerful ally and biggest arms supplier, the US.
Before Rubio’s visit, the state department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the US’s top diplomat would show “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism”.
“He will also emphasise our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home.”
In Israel, opponents of the Netanyahu government have sought to put pressure on ministers to end the war in return for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main campaign group, accused the Israeli prime minister of being the “one obstacle” to freeing the hostages and accused him of repeatedly sabotaging ceasefire efforts.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas militants in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 64,803 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
With Agence France-Presse and Reuters