U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel on Sunday (September 14), stepping into a region already fraught with tension following Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and its plans to expand settlements in the West Bank.
Rubio and his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes, were greeted by U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee upon landing at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
Speaking to reporters before departure from Washington, Rubio acknowledged President Donald Trump’s displeasure over the Doha strike but stressed that it would not shake the U.S.-Israel alliance. “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. “At the end of the day, when all is said and done, there is still a group called Hamas, which is an evil group that still has weapons and is terrorizing.”
Rubio said he would raise with Israeli officials how the strike might affect Trump’s goals of securing the release of all hostages, dismantling Hamas, and ending the war in Gaza. “It’s not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis. But we are going to have to talk about it,” he noted.
The secretary of state also addressed Qatar’s role, after its capital was struck in last week’s air raid. Asked if Doha would still cooperate with Washington, he replied: “We have a relationship with them as well. They’ve been good partners on a number of fronts.”
Rubio also plans to visit Jerusalem’s City of David archaeological site, describing it as an extraordinary place of global significance and rejecting suggestions that the stop was politically motivated.
Israel insists its actions are in self-defence following Hamas’s October 2023 attack, which killed 1,200 people and saw more than 250 hostages taken.
After his stop in Israel, Rubio is expected to join President Trump during his planned visit to Britain next week.
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