Rubio Hits Media Over Gaza Narrative, Says Some Allies Making It Harder To Achieve Peace

Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the media on Thursday over its coverage of the war in Gaza, and explained how some of America’s allies are making peace “harder to achieve” by effectively ignoring the threat of Hamas.

“The World Over” host Raymond Arroyo asked Rubio during a lengthy interview about his thoughts on Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu likely wanting to “occupy Gaza” — a plan Netanyahu recently denied.

“It looks like Benjamin Netanyahu wants to occupy Gaza,” Arroyo said. “Is occupation of Gaza the right way to go right now? And what about the humanitarian crisis?”

“Ultimately, what Israel needs to do for Israel’s security will be determined by Israel,” Rubio responded. “I can tell you the way to break this out is there are three problems there at the same time.”

“Number one is the one that’s getting almost all the media coverage,” the Secretary of State continued. “This is the humanitarian problem that we’re seeing — no one wants to see that. And the United States stands prepared to contribute towards any real effort that will actually get food and medicine and life-sustaining aid to people on the ground in Gaza.”

The second, Rubio said, is the remaining Israeli hostages, who are getting very little coverage from the press.

“The second is that there are 20 innocent people being held hostage and starved inside of tunnels,” he said. “Unfortunately, there aren’t daily cameras down there covering that. So, you don’t see the mainstream media covering it. But there are 20 people that have done nothing wrong that are being held as hostage — and we saw the conditions that they’re living in the other day.”

As for the third issue, Rubio underscored the threat of Hamas.

“As long as Hamas exists, particularly exists as an armed organization, there will never be peace in Gaza,” he told Arroyo. “Hamas is not going to suddenly change and go into another line of work, their line of work, their reason for existing, is they want to destroy Israel. They want to drive every Jew out of the Middle East. That’s their goal. And as long as a group like that has weapons and the ability to fight, they’re a threat to peace.”

“We have to deal with all three of those elements, not just the humanitarian,” Rubio said. “That’s important, but the other two have to be dealt with as well. Not enough time, not enough attention is being paid to those two, [so] Hamas thinks they’re winning the global PR war. They’re not willing to make any concessions.”

Arroyo seemed to agree with Rubio, noting that some of America’s allies are preparing to recognize a Palestinian state. Rubio said gestures like that, which effectively ignore Hamas, hurt the likelihood of peace.

“Well, have you noticed the talks with Hamas fell apart on the day [French President Emmanuel] Macron made the unilateral decision that he’s going to recognize a Palestinian state? And then you have other people come forward, other countries say, ‘Well, if there’s not a ceasefire by September, we’re going to recognize a Palestinian state.'”

“Well, if I’m Hamas, I basically conclude, let’s not do a ceasefire, right? We can be rewarded and we can claim it as a victory,” Rubio explained. “So those messages, while largely symbolic in their minds, actually have made it harder to get peace and harder to achieve a deal with Hamas. They feel emboldened.”

Arroyo noted the Arab League pushing for the removal of Hamas. “I mean, clearly the Arab League says you got to get Hamas out of there,” he said. “They need to drop arms and move on.”

Rubio further said that recognizing a Palestinian state would be a reward for Hamas.

“They can’t define the borders or who’s going to run it,” Rubio said. “I mean, you can’t have a state or even an autonomous region unless you can identify who’s going to run it. And if it’s going to be run by Hamas, you’re going to be right back into war.”

“I think what’s important to remember here is that they’ve had opportunities to do this,” he continued. “You know, Israel turned over Gaza, turned it over completely with greenhouses and all kinds of things. And they elected Hamas. Hamas destroyed it, destroyed it all, took it, built tunnels instead of hospitals. That’s what they do.”

“At the end of the day, my problem with it is that I believe that these unilateral steps that have been taken by these governments — I know, has emboldened Hamas and made it harder to achieve peace.”

The interview with Rubio can be accessed here (relevant comments begin around the nine-minute mark).