Marco Rubio criticizes Prime Minister's 'clumsy' Palestine pledge
Sir Keir this week sparked a furious backlash by saying Britain could recognise Palestinian statehood in September, ahead of the UN General Assembly. The UK will only refrain from doing so if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire, and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months. Hamas must immediately release all remaining Israeli hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and 'accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza', Sir Keir also said - although ministers have insisted they 'won't negotiate' with the terror group.
The PM's foreign policy shift came as both France and Canada also announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state within weeks. But Mr Rubio, in an interview with Fox Radio, branded the move 'irrelevant'. 'It doesn't mean anything. First of all, none of these countries have the ability to create a Palestinian state,' he said.
The US Secretary of State added: 'There can be no Palestinian state unless Israel agrees to it. Number two, they can't even tell you where this Palestinian state is. They can't tell you who will govern it. And I think number three, it's counterproductive.' Mr Rubio also warned that recognising a Palestinian state represented a 'reward' for Hamas, who carried out brutal attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.
'At the end of the day, the Hamas side is the Palestinian statehood side. So you are creating this reward,' he added. 'The problem with the UK statement. The UK is like, 'well, if Israel doesn't agree to a ceasefire by September, we're going to recognise a Palestinian state'. 'So if I'm Hamas, I say, 'you know what, let's not allow there to be a ceasefire. If Hamas refuses to agree to a ceasefire, it guarantees a Palestinian state will be recognised by all these countries in September. So they're not going to agree to a ceasefire. I mean, it's so clumsy.'
Mr Rubio claimed that 'domestic politics' had pressured the UK, France and Canada into moving towards recognition of Palestine. 'They're actually hurting the cause, they're not helping,' he continued. 'Because their statement isn't going to change anything other than it encourages and rewards Hamas, who now have every reason in the world not to agree to ceasefire and not to release these hostages.'
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said on Thursday that the US President had 'expressed his displeasure and his disagreement with the leaders of France, the UK and Canada'. She added that Mr Trump 'feels as though that's rewarding Hamas at a time where Hamas is the true impediment to a ceasefire and to the release of all of the hostages'. Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson this morning insisted that 'neither side has a veto on' on what Sir Keir will decide to do in the coming weeks.
Asked if the UK will still recognise a Palestinian state if Hamas hasn't released all the hostages it holds by September, the Labour MP told Times Radio: 'I think neither side has a veto on what the British Government chooses to do in September. And that will be an assessment that will be taking place in September. I mean, the PM has set out what he expects from Israel.'
'Obviously, that's a democratically-elected government, very different to Hamas, which is a terrorist organisation. But he's been very clear about the need for a ceasefire, for the humanitarian aid to get into Gaza now, and also for Israel to set out clearly that they will not be annexing the West Bank, and also that they are committed to a future peace process.'
'And this is what the PM setting out our objective around a Palestinian state is about, it's about recognising that these horrific circumstances that Israel and Gaza and the Palestinian Authority are in at the moment, we need to deal with this. We need to actually have the ceasefire, and then move on to trying to re-establish that peace process and the establishment of what my party and I think generally is accepted, a two-state solution.'
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