During a Tuesday appearance on WABC Radio’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed a range of pressing issues, including the fight against terrorism, the war in Gaza, and diplomatic tensions with Europe. Speaking with host Sid Rosenberg, Rubio pulled back the curtain on internal State Department discussions, stressing the need to confront threats facing both the US and Israel.
When pressed on why the administration has not officially designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as terrorist organizations, Rubio confirmed the matter is under serious consideration. “Yeah, all of that is in the works,” Rubio said. “Obviously there are different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, so you’d have to designate each one of them.”
He explained that such designations are complicated by the legal process, noting that the government must present a detailed case before the courts. “You have to show your work like a math problem when you go before court,” he said. “All you need is one federal judge… that is willing to do these nationwide injunctions and basically try to run the country from the bench.”
Rubio added that the administration is “constantly reviewing for groups to designate for what they are: supporters of terrorists, maybe terrorists themselves.”
Turning to the war in Gaza, Rubio made it clear that Israel’s military objectives must remain firm. “The war ends the day Hamas stops existing as a military threat,” Rubio declared. “That’s the bottom line people don’t understand.”
He faulted the international community for shifting attention away from Hamas’s October 7 atrocities toward the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, insisting that the terror group is to blame for both situations. “They have held captive the 2 million people that live in Gaza. That’s their human shield,” Rubio said. “We should spend an equal amount of time talking about the fact that… there are 20 living human beings in deep suffering underneath tunnels.”
Rubio said lasting peace is impossible as long as Hamas remains intact. “You will not have peace in Gaza as long as Hamas exists,” he stated. “The sooner people grasp that, the sooner they understand what the objective has to be here.”
He also brushed off warnings from European nations such as France, the UK, and Ireland about imposing diplomatic penalties if a ceasefire is not reached. “It’s symbolic, and they’re doing it primarily for one reason, and that is their internal politics,” Rubio said. “It’s not going to be decided by some UN resolution… It’s going to be decided on the ground.”
Rubio reiterated that true progress toward peace can only begin with the removal of terrorist control over Palestinian Authority areas. “As long as people govern these spaces who are going to attack Israel, you are not going to have peace,” he said. “It begins by eliminating… the organizations that are willing to attack Israel.”
{Matzav.com}
