By Jackson Richman
Contributing Writer
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the Israeli strike on Hamas leadership in Qatar was a unilateral decision.
“Israel’s decision to act against the Hamas terrorist leadership in Qatar was a wholly independent decision by Israel,” he said during a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Israel.
“It was a decision taken by me and our top security force chiefs. It was conducted by us, and we assumed 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. So we did it on our own, period.”
It is not publicly known if the strikes took out the leadership of Hamas.
Rubio said that following the strike, the focus is on what comes next, with Qatar being a mediator in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“What role can Qatar play possibly in reaching an outcome here that leads not just to the end of this hostilities, not just to the release of all of the hostages, both living and deceased, not just the disarmament and elimination of Hamas but also a better future for the people of Gaza, which isn’t possible as long as Hamas exists, which isn’t possible as long as 48 hostages are being held,” he said.
“And so we’re going to continue to encourage Qatar to play a constructive role in that regard. We’re focused because, at the end of the day, no matter what has happened, these fundamentals still remain. There is still a Hamas. There is still 48 hostages, and there is still a war going on. And all of these things [stand] in the way of a better future for the people of Gaza and a peaceful end to what’s happening now.”
Rubio also said that the United States has “strong relationships” with its Gulf allies.
“We work very closely with them on a number of things. We’ve been engaged with them,” he said. “We’ve been engaged with them consistently before what happened and after what happened. And ultimately, the point we will make to everybody is that some fundamentals still remain to have to be addressed, irrespective of what has occurred.”
The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that Rubio will visit Qatar following his trip to Israel.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was “very unhappy” about Israel’s Sept. 9 strike on Qatar.
“My message is that they have to be very, very careful,“ he said. ”They have to do something about Hamas, but Qatar has been a great ally to the United States.”
Rubio and Netanyahu presented a united front during the press conference.
“America has no better ally than Israel. It’s obvious that Israel has no better ally than America,” Netanyahu said. “You’ve been a remarkable partner. And our remarkable alliance, I think, has been forged for ages.”
Rubio said, “I want to thank you for your friendship and for the friendship that Israel has shown towards the United States and so many issues we work on together that extend beyond the causes of war and peace, but advances in technology, advances in economics and those remain strong and enduring and unwavering, and not enough attention gets paid to those links, the economic links.”
