Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks to Press

QUESTION: What is your message for the prime minister on this trip?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, the U.S.-Israeli relationship is very strong. It continues to be strong. The President wants this conflict to end. He wants all the hostages out, all 48 of them, living and deceased. Obviously we're concerned that events last week, he didn't like the way it went down. He's expressed that publicly. There's concern that perhaps that could - we'll talk about what impact it's going to have on efforts to get all the hostages back, get rid of Hamas, end this war. That's the President's priority.

QUESTION: What leverage can the U.S. bring to bear on that?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don't know about leverage. Look, I mean, our relationship with Israel is very strong; everybody knows that. I wouldn't call it leverage. I do think we have influence, I think because we've worked on so many things together. So we'll be there to express that and also to express the President's views, which is that he wants Hamas defeated, he wants the war to end, he wants all 48 hostages home, including those that are deceased, and he wants it all at once. Like, he wants all the hostages now, not five and 10 and piecemeal. And we'll have to discuss about how the events last week had an impact on the ability to achieve that in short order.

QUESTION: I mean, do you think Hamas could still make it - could Hamas -

QUESTION: The Taliban just said - the Taliban just said that their - oh.

SECRETARY RUBIO: I'll get to you. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Oh. The Taliban is putting out word that the U.S. has agreed to a prisoner swap, Mr. Secretary. Do you know anything about that?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don't know - look, our special envoy for the unlawfully detained has been having conversations for a while. I think he went there to explore what's possible. Obviously it'll be the President's decision in terms of any trades or any exchanges. But we most certainly want any Americans or anyone who's being unlawfully detained to be released. And so he went there to explore what that would look like.

QUESTION: Are you fully supportive of an offensive into Gaza City? What are you going to talk to the Israelis about on that - in that regard?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, I don't know if we should get into that. I mean, I'm not going to get into that in the media other than to say the President wants this to be finished with, and "finished with" meaning 48 hostages released all at once, Hamas no longer a threat so we can move on to the next phase, which is how do you rebuild Gaza, how do you provide security, how do you make sure Hamas or anything like it never comes back again. That's the President's priority. That's always been his priority. And that's what we're going to try to move forward on. And part of what we're going to have to discuss as part of this visit is how the events of last week with Qatar impact that.

QUESTION: And do you think the Qataris will still work with the U.S., take -

SECRETARY RUBIO: I met with them - the Vice President and I met with the prime minister yesterday. I know they had dinner with the President last night. So we have a relationship with them as well that's important on a number of things with them. They've been, for example, very helpful on the DRC-Rwanda, with the implementation. They have hosted those talks. So we had a visit there earlier this year. I did (inaudible) a second time with the President. So they've been good partners on a number of things.

QUESTION: What about the (inaudible), Mr. Secretary? Were there any questions or (inaudible)?

SECRETARY RUBIO: No, I didn't - it never came up with me or in any conversations we had.

QUESTION: Are you concerned at all that they may follow through on their threat to do strikes again in Qatar?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Who's this, the Israelis?

QUESTION: The Israelis.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Look, we're going to meet with them. We're going to talk about what the future holds and what the - we - I'm going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward. What's happened has happened. Obviously we're not happy about it, the President was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next. Because 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; there are still 48 hostages that deserve to be released immediately, all at once; and there is still the hard work ahead of, once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people a quality of life that they all want. And who's going to do that? And who's going to pay for it? And who's going to be in charge of it?

So all that work is still there to be done. All that still needs to be dealt with.

QUESTION: You seemed unhappy. Does that mean you ask the - will you ask the Israelis not to do this again?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Look, I think the President's comments speak for themselves on that front. And he didn't like the way it went down. But that said, it's not going to shake - our relationship with Israel is going to remain strong. And sometimes things happen or come up in those relationships that perhaps we're not 100 percent aligned with, or unhappy. But it's not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis. But we are going to have to talk about it. Primarily, what impact does this have - what happened, what impact does that have moving forward?

QUESTION: Should Israel withdraw its troops from Gaza City and this operation, Gideon's Chariots? Should they pull back from that invasion?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, we're not talking about that or anything of that nature. I mean, that certainly won't be what I'm going to communicate. We just want to know what comes next. How do we get the 48 hostages out; what's the plan to defeat Hamas so we can get to the next phase.

QUESTION: You said that nothing was - oh, go ahead.

QUESTION: There's (inaudible) settlements have been recognized the other day, and Netanyahu said and recognized, signed up on (inaudible), and people saying that means basically there's no Palestinian state in the future.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Look, I think part of that is the reaction to - that's an Israeli reaction to efforts around the world to recognize a Palestinian state, including from countries in Europe and Canada and others that have signed on to this thing. I think it comes on the precipice of these meetings at the UN where it's going to become a topic. So I think that's the Israeli response to that. And we warned them. We warned a lot of these countries around the world that that's what would happen, or what we thought might happen, if they went ahead with this.

So I'm sure that'll come up in the conversation. That's all I'm going to say about it for now.

QUESTION: Isn't it just doing more to inflame tensions with Palestinians and get further away from the -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, it all began when these groups - when these countries start going out there and doing this recognition of the Palestinian state, we told them there's going to be a counterreaction to that by the Israelis, and I think that's what you've seen. So we're going to talk about that holistically in terms of how it impacts the entirety of it. I'm sure it's a topic of conversation.

QUESTION: On Colombia?

QUESTION: Have you made a decision yet about whether or not you'll certify them? I know that deadline is coming up on the -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we'll have - we might have an announcement on that next week.

QUESTION: Will you inaugurate this tunnel on the Temple Mount on Tuesday there have been reports about?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, let me tell you, the City of David is separate. I intend to go to that. I've been to that before, many years. That's an archaeological site. It's one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. I've visited it numerous times in the past. I understand people want to involve politics in it. I understand everything in this region is political to some extent. But at the end of the day, it's an extraordinary archaeological site. It just is, and I think an important one for multiple faiths.

QUESTION: Qatar, I think starting Monday, is going to meet with regional allies in the Gulf to talk about or come up with a response to the attacks. Are you going to bring a message to the prime minister about that?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we talked to him a little bit about it yesterday. I'm not sure that he had settled on exactly what it is they're going to ask of their allies in the region. I don't think it's breaking news that multiple countries in the region were upset about what happened, or unhappy about it. Obviously we're not going to be at that meeting. We don't - I don't think they've yet settled on exactly what it is they're going to raise as their message at that meeting. But our focus now is moving forward, what comes next. Because when all is said and done, despite what happened earlier this week in Qatar, in Doha, we still have to deal with the 48 hostages and they need to be released. We still have to deal with Hamas, which nobody in the region wants to see stay in place. And we still have to deal with, when that is settled and done, how do you rebuild Gaza so that this - in a way that this never happens again.

All right, let's get - let's go. One more.

QUESTION: Yes. Has the U.S. made any final determination or made any more decision about the Russian drone incursion into Poland, whether it was intentional or -

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, there's still a lot of gathering happening. In respect of it shouldn't have happened - I don't think anybody's happy about seeing it happen. You saw NATO respond to it appropriately. We don't want to see it happen again. We think it's a unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development in this regard. I think it'll take a few more days for everybody to fully - the drones were intentionally launched. There's no doubt about the drones were intentionally launched. The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically. If that's the case - that the evidence leads us there - then obviously that'll be a highly escalatory move. There are a number of other possibilities as well. But I think we'd like to have all the facts and consult with our allies before we make specific determinations.

We're being bombarded here by some kind of (inaudible) on email.

All right, guys, let's get out of here.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, to ask you if you're going to, you think, attend Charlie Kirk's funeral services next weekend?

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yes, I intend to, assuming - I believe we'll be back in time for it. Charlie was a great young man. I got to know him quite well, actually. In fact, I had spoken to him as late as last Thursday. I believe he was in Korea, in South Korea, and was returning from South Korea. So he was a - and look, I admired all the stuff he said and did on campuses. I think he had an enormous influence on young people.

Primarily, I think the most ironic part about all the Charlie Kirk situation, the tragedy, is he was actually one of the few people out there that was engaged. A lot of people go out and give speeches. He was actually engaged in back-and-forth, I felt very respectful debate with people that disagreed with him. He knew and invited people to disagree with him - not just on college campuses, but on podcasts and interviews. He had people on his show and he would go on other people's shows. I think we actually need more of that dialogue and discourse. And so I think it's tragic and ironic at the same time that one of the few people out there that was engaged in that sort of debate back and forth on these topics, some of which are highly emotional and highly divisive, but nonetheless was verbally engaged, that that's one of the voices that someone tried to go and silence through this horrible tragedy.

Okay. Thank you.

QUESTION: Thank you so much.

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