The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has held talks in Israel with Benjamin Netanyahu aimed at limiting the diplomatic damage to both countries by Israel’s attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar, its continued demolition of Gaza, and the accelerated expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli prime minister took Rubio on a tour of the Western Wall, where both men placed written prayers between the stones, before taking his American visitor underground to view archeological excavations.
“This alliance has never been stronger,” Netanyahu told reporters. “It’s as strong, as durable as the stones in the Western Wall that we just touched.”
He paused in apparent expectation that the secretary of state would speak, but Rubio said nothing. Part of his mission on this two-day visit is to convey Donald Trump’s irritation at the Tuesday’s Israeli missile strike on Doha which was aimed at Hamas leadership but killed their aides and a Qatari security officer.
The attack has shaken faith among Washington’s allies in the Arab world that the US can protect them, and particularly infuriated Qatar, a close ally who the US has encouraged to host Hamas officials and broker negotiations.
On the eve of an emergency summit of Arab and Islamic leaders called by Qatar, its prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged the international community to “stop using double standards” and punish Israel for what he described as its “crimes”.
However, Rubio has signalled that he intends to balance criticism of Israel with a message of broad support for Israel, at a time it is facing ever broader accusations of genocide, an arrest warrant for Netanyahu from the international criminal court, and a looming UN general assembly summit next week, at which some other leading US allies including the UK, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are expected to recognise Palestine.
Rubio, before his departure on Sunday, discussed the Qatar strike with reporters. “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,” Rubio said. He added, however, that the incident was “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis”.
The Netanyahu government is seeking to play down any rift with the Trump administration over the Doha strike, while remaining defiant over the attack.
“We have a very close dialogue with the administration. We’re coordinated with them and, relatively speaking, the American reaction was reasonable,” the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said on Israeli army radio. “At the UN security council they expressed reservations, but the reservations were minor. We took into account that this would have a price.
“The Qataris are trying to ride on this. From their perspective, they are leveraging this incident. From our perspective, we delivered the clear message that we will pursue the terrorists everywhere.”
Rubio’s public itinerary has been designed to emphasise biblical archeology favourable to Jewish claims to Jerusalem, which are at the heart of American evangelical support for Israel. At the Western Wall on Sunday, Israeli security officers separated female reporters from the press pack and confined them to a separate, adjacent compound, where they could not see Netanyahu or Rubio. Asked why, the officers said that the two men were going to pray and the separation was for religious reasons.
On Monday, Rubio is due to visit the City of David archaeological park, which has been established by a settler group in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan. It includes a tunnel excavated under Palestinian homes which is supposed to mark the path taken by pilgrims to the Jewish temple in the Roman era. Critics say the park is an example of archeology being used in the service of politics.
Rubio is being accompanied on his tour by the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister who has been a fervent supporter of settler and Israeli territorial expansionism.
Huckabee has also led the US defence of Israel’s war in Gaza, where the official death toll is approaching 65,000, with thousands more feared buried in the ruins. Israel has ordered the estimated million people sheltering in Gaza City to move south as it mounts a new offensive against Hamas there, which has involved destroying one apartment block after another.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had destroyed three more blocks on Sunday, claiming Hamas had put surveillance equipment on their rooftops. At least 13 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip, according to local hospitals.
The Israeli military’s top lawyer is reported to have called for a delay to the evacuation of Gaza City until more humanitarian facilities were available in the south, but her advice was ignored, according to Haaretz newspaper.
After Israel, Rubio is due to fly to the UK for Trump’s state visit, during which policy towards Israel and the recognition of Palestine will be a major irritant. On Friday the UN general assembly voted 142-10 to endorse a two-state solution to the conflict, involving a Palestinian state in which Hamas would be blocked from any role in government.
