Rubio meets Netanyahu in Israel as U.S. ally Qatar gathers Arab neighbors to condemn Doha attack. Image: CBS News.
(The Post News)- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Monday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just hours after Arab leaders convened in Doha for an emergency summit to condemn Israel’s recent airstrike targeting Hamas officials in the Qatari capital.
Netanyahu Acknowledges US Stance with Israel
Netanyahu said to Rubio in the meeting, “Your presence here today sends a clear message that America stands with Israel.” The prime minister praised the Trump administration for its “steadfast support” and defended the strike, insisting Israel had targeted senior Hamas figures involved in the October 7, 2023, attacks, which killed about 1,200 people and led to the abduction of 251 hostages.
Hamas acknowledged that five members were killed but said Israel failed to eliminate its senior political leadership based in Doha. On Sunday, President Donald Trump had cautioned Netanyahu against further escalations. “They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally to the United States,” Trump reported in New Jersey, urging Israel to be “very careful.”
Rubio Highlights Washington Ties
Pressed on Qatar’s anger, Rubio stressed that Washington was balancing ties. “We have strong relationships with our Gulf allies… We have been engaged with them consistently before what happened and after what happened,” he said. He added, “Irrespective of what has occurred, the reality is we still have 48 hostages. We still have Hamas that is holding Gaza hostage and using civilians as human shields… As long as they are around, there will be no peace in this region.”
Netanyahu, meanwhile, vowed that Hamas leaders would not find safe haven abroad. “They will not have immunity wherever they are,” he said, adding that Israel had acted independently. “We did it on our own. Period.”
In Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani called for international action against Israel. He appealed to the world’s leaders to stop using double standards and punish Israel for its offenses. A draft resolution from the summit, seen by CBS News, described Israel’s war in Gaza as “genocide, ethnic cleansing, and starvation” and called for sanctions, including suspending arms transfers and reviewing diplomatic ties.
Israel’s military campaign, now in its 23rd month, has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. While Israel disputes the figures, the United Nations continues to cite them as the most reliable available.
Rubio’s Visit Comes Ahead of UN General Assembly
The timing of Rubio’s visit comes as the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a two-state solution last week, with 142 nations voting in favor. The U.S. and Israel opposed the measure. Netanyahu reiterated Monday that “there will be no Palestinian state.”
A senior State Department official said Rubio will travel to Qatar after his Israel stop, before joining Trump in the U.K. for a state visit. “I will visit the City of David archaeological park, which was established by a settler organization in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, in occupied East Jerusalem,” Rubio stated.
He will attend the inauguration of the “Pilgrimage Road,” a tunnel excavated underneath Palestinian homes that is said to mark the route of a Roman-era street taken by pilgrims to the Biblical temple that once stood on the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary).
Rubio himself acknowledged U.S. unease over the Doha strike. “What’s happened has happened. Obviously, we were not happy about it. The president was not happy with it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next,” he said.
Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem—land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a hoped-for future state—during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them. The settlements are illegal under international law.
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