Rubio says US supports Qatar\u2019s Gaza mediation after Israeli strike on Gulf state targeting Hamas
\n Washington
\nUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio charged Monday that Hamas was emboldened by moves by Britain, France and other US allies to recognise a Palestinian state.
\n\u201cThey\u2019re largely symbolic — they have really no impact whatsoever about bringing us any closer to a Palestinian state. The only impact they actually have is it makes Hamas feel more emboldened,\u201d Rubio said at a joint news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s actually served as an impediment to peace,\u201d Rubio said.
\nRubio said that at times in the past, Hamas \u201cwalked away from agreements that they actually had tacitly agreed to, but then they see the sort of international support they believe they\u2019re getting\u201d.
\nHe said he will keep raising concerns directly to US allies as he was asked about his message to Britain, which he will visit starting Tuesday with President Donald Trump.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s actually hurting the cause they think they\u2019re furthering,\u201d Rubio said.
\nRubio was visiting Jerusalem a week before a UN summit in New York on recognising a Palestinian state led by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has voiced exasperation at Israel\u2019s nearly two-year offensive in Gaza and sought to strengthen Hamas\u2019s rivals in the Palestinian Authority.
\nUS supports Qatar\u2019s role in Gaza talks, Rubio tells Israel
\nUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Israel on Monday that the United States backed the \u201cconstructive role\u201d by Qatar in mediating in Gaza, after an Israeli strike on the Gulf state against Hamas.
\nPresident Donald Trump and Rubio have both said they opposed the attack last week on Qatar, which is home to the largest US air base in the Middle East.
\nAsked what he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rubio said, \u201cWe are focused on what happens now, what happens next, what role can Qatar play possibly in reaching an outcome\u201d to end the Gaza war.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard,\u201d Rubio told a joint news conference with Netanyahu.
\nNetanyahu defended the Israeli strike against Hamas, which carried out the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
\n\u201cWe assume full responsibility for it because we believe that terrorists should not be given a haven and the people who planned the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust cannot have immunity,\u201d Netanyahu said.
\nHe compared the strike to how the US military acted \u201cvery boldly\u201d after the September 11, 2001, with its war on Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and the 2011 raid into Pakistan that killed attack mastermind Osama bin Laden.
\n\u201cThose countries that are condemning Israel today did not come and say, well, what a terrible thing was done, the sovereignty of Pakistan was violated, the sovereignty of Afghanistan was violated,\u201d Netanyahu said.
\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have such a sovereignty when you are effectively giving a base to terrorists,\u201d he said.
\nBefore the October 7 attack, Israel as well as the United States reportedly had quietly encouraged Qatar\u2019s role including its transfer of millions of dollars to Hamas in hopes of maintaining stability in Gaza.
\nIsrael and the United States also viewed Qatar, with its close relationship with Washington, as a better place to keep an eye on Hamas and prevent the militants from basing themselves in Iran, whose clerical state openly backs the group.
\nA prestigious UK government-run defence studies institute will not accept Israeli post-graduates from September 2026 over the Gaza war, the defence ministry said Monday.
\nUK defence academy to bar Israelis over Gaza war
\nThe UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to AFP that enrolment for Israelis at the Royal College of Defence Studies would be paused next year, but current students would be allowed to remain.
\nThe post-graduate college part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom offers training for \u201cstrategic thinkers and leaders within the armed forces and civil service\u201d, according to its website, with international students allowed to study specific courses.
\n\u201cUK military educational courses have long been open to personnel from a wide range of countries, with all UK military courses emphasising compliance with international humanitarian law,\u201d an MoD spokesperson said.
\n\u201cHowever, the Israeli government\u2019s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,\u201d the spokesperson said, calling for an \u201cimmediate ceasefire\u201d.
\nA UK defence ministry official told parliament in June that the college was providing \u201cnon-combat academic courses\u201d to \u201cfewer than five\u201d members of the Israeli military.
\nAmir Baram, the director general of Israel\u2019s defence ministry, who studied at the college, denounced the decision as a \u201cdiscriminatory act\u201d and \u201cdisloyalty to an ally at war\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rubio says US supports Qatar\u2019s Gaza mediation after Israeli strike on Gulf state targeting Hamas Washington US Secretary of State Marco Rubio charged Monday that Hamas was emboldened by moves by Britain, France and other US allies to recognise a Palestinian state. \u201cThey\u2019re largely symbolic — they have really no impact whatsoever about bringing us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-503094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n