Total Members Voted: 55
Periods and paragraph breaks ensure one's entry into the world to come.
הקול קול יעקב והידים ידי עשו. He still is a murderer and is allowing his men to kill the Druze near Israel whom Israel has pressure to defend as the Israeli Druze are fiercely loyal to Israel and their Druze brothers on the other side of the border. Israel is signalling to the new Islamist-in-chief not to mess around.
Israel was signaling that to Hezbollah and Hamas since I remember, now you have someone not chanting death to Israel for change, and looks like they are pushing him there. If we are believing Trump he might even recognize Israel too. Sorry, other than defending Israel I got no logical response here. You can advocate for and defend the Druze while still showing willingness to engage with him respectfully.
I fear you are being naive.
QUESTION: On – just on that same theme about peace in Gaza, and I know the President had a bit to say today and yesterday. On the ground, I mean, there were more than 100 Palestinians killed today, 80 yesterday, two attacks on hospitals. We’ve had Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, urging the Security Council to prevent, in his words, “genocide.” Meanwhile, the families of many hostages are accusing the Netanyahu government of trying to prolong the war for political reasons. What is your engagement with the Israeli Government at the moment? Are you a hundred percent behind the nature of the military action? And what is your own position basically on – as you did with Edan Alexander – talking directly to Hamas to get the rest of the hostages —SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, let me just say: I spoke to the prime minister today, of Israel. I know the President has been in contact with him earlier this week. The President talked about this in a speech the other day that the people of Gaza deserve a better future than what they’ve had under Hamas. We think that the elimination of Hamas is what achieves peace. We’re troubled by the humanitarian situation there. Both the Israelis with American backing and support have offered a plan to deliver aid that doesn’t get diverted or stolen by Hamas. I’ve heard criticisms of that plan. We’re open to an alternative if someone has a better one, but it – we are for all the aid we can get without the people – without Hamas being able to steal it from people.But I don’t think – I think all of us would love to see an enduring end to this conflict, which, by the way, would end immediately if Hamas were to surrender. They’re a terrorist group. They’re a group that kidnapped, raped, murdered innocent people that had nothing to do with the war. And as long as they exist and they’re around, you’re not going to have peace. They – this is not a peaceful group. This is a group that deliberately on October 7th committed horrifying crimes which has triggered this conflict.That said, we’re not immune or in any way insensitive to the suffering of the people of Gaza, and I know that there’s opportunities here to provide aid for them. There’s a plan out there that’s been offered, that’s been criticized by some, but it allows people to get aid without Hamas stealing it. And we’ll continue to work towards that in ways that we think are constructive and productive.QUESTION: And what about – but what about negotiations? Are you in direct contact with Hamas? And would you continue to do that if it gets – if it’s a way to get the rest of the hostages —SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think anybody that tells you there’s – there are obviously messages passed between intermediaries in the case of Hamas. There’s obviously an external Hamas group and then there’s an internal Hamas group as well. This is a terrorist organization; this is a murderous group that still continues to hold innocent hostages and the bodies and remains of dead hostages as well. They should all be released immediately. That’s been our position from the very – they should never have been taken to begin with.So again, we continue – that continues to be our position. And if there’s a role we can play in bringing about the release of these hostages and the return of these remains to their families, and we have an opportunity to play a role, we will.I won’t comment any further on the mechanics of it, because I don’t want to endanger them, but suffice it to say that we know there are others involved. The Qataris have been involved, the Egyptians have been involved, the Turks have been involved. Numerous countries have been involved in passing messages and in getting results. And it – we’re very happy to see Edan Alexander home with his family. It was very uplifting. But we recognize that there are still many others left behind, and we want to see them all released.QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, on Syria, you met with the delegation today. Can you tell us your impressions? And also, did you get any reassurances on some of the requests you made, including asking all foreign fighters to leave the country?SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Look, I think that obviously this is a new relationship. We’ve now known each other – known them for 24 hours, so it’s one that – we think that a peaceful, stable Syria would be one of the most dramatic improvements in the region in a very long time, and we want to do everything we can to help achieve that.We have governing authorities there now who have expressed, not openly and repeatedly, that they do – that this is a nationalistic movement designed to building their country in a pluralistic society in which all the different elements of Syrian society are able to live together. They have expressed an interest in being at peace with all of their neighbors, including Israel. They have expressed an interest in driving out foreign fighters and terrorists and others that would destabilize the country and are enemies of this transitional authority. And they’ve asked for our help, and so we’re going to try to help them.Now, obviously, we want to see progress made, and we’ll take every step that they take, and it’ll be a long road, because it’s been a long time. So we recognize that, but this is a historic opportunity and, if it succeeds, would have a dramatic, transformative effect on the region.I would say that Syria is a place where people of different faiths and backgrounds have lived alongside each other for a very long time. It’s only in the last 10 years under Assad’s rule, brutal rule, where he gassed and murdered his own people, where he created chaos that allowed foreign fighters to flow into the country and use it as a playground to conduct external attacks, where Iran saw an opportunity to come in and sponsor their groups that turned it into a terrorist highway to empower Hizballah – it’s only in the last 10 years that you’ve seen 6 to 8 million people driven out of that country.So we want to be helpful. The President said he – if they want to take these steps forward, we’re going to do what we can, working with our partners in the region, to help them. And I hope it’s successful, because if it is – there’s two routes here. One will be success and we’ll have a major transformation on the region, or you’re going to have a brutal civil war that’ll destabilize the region. We would prefer the former, not the latter, and we’re going to do everything we can within our control to help effectuate that.Ultimately it’ll be up to the leaders there on the ground to make it happen. And they face some significant challenges, there’s no doubt. The good news is that there are regional partners like Türkiye, like Saudi Arabia, like Qatar, like the UAE who are willing to contribute. And frankly, the lifting of sanctions – its first effects will be felt because – not because U.S. dollars are going to flow in, but because our regional partners will now be able to flow in dollars that’ll allow them not just to stand up a government that can provide basic services, but also will allow them the work of reconstruction.One of the things they expressed today – and they’re asking for our help – is to identify weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons, and so forth, identify these sites and remove them from the country. As they expressed today, they are victims of the use of chemical weapons. They don’t want these chemical weapons stored in their country anywhere, but you don’t just go in and grab a bunch of chemical weapons and put them in a truck; it requires technical expertise to both identify where they’re located and remove them safely. And they’ve asked for our help in that regard, and we’re going to be willing to provide it.QUESTION: On the lifting of sanctions, obviously it’s a pretty complicated process. Do you have a timeline for how long you think that might take? And also, how much advance notice was the State Department and Treasury given to sort of start that winddown?SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we – this is a road we were on. So we’ve been doing the work, the prep work, for it. Their finance minister, we provided him a visa to travel to Washington, D.C. two weeks ago. Their foreign minister, we provided him a visa to – a week ago to travel to New York and met with our UN representative. I was scheduled to come here and meet today with the foreign minister. I was with the President when he made the decision to do this and included it in his speech. So we’ve been doing preparatory work in that regard. The core of these sanctions are statutory under the Caesar Act. I’ve had members of Congress – Congress in both parties – ask us to use the waivers authorities in that law. But – and that’s what the President intends to do. Those waivers have to be renewed every 180 days.Ultimately, if we make enough progress, we’d like to see the law repealed because you’re going to struggle to find people to invest in a country when any – in six months, sanctions could come back. We’re not there yet. That’s premature. I think we want to start with the initial waiver, which will allow foreign partners who wanted to flow in aid to begin to do so without running the risk of sanctions.I think as we make progress, hopefully we’ll be in a position soon, or one day, to go to Congress and ask them to permanently remove the sanctions.
Marco Rubio is just great, hope he has a say on the president's policies and remain with his role for a while.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-walmart-eat-tariffs-instead-raising-prices-2025-05-17/Insanity.Is this democracy/capitalism in any shape or form?!
How long until the Jews suffer from the feud between Trump and Musk?
https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/1937277831718810087
Poll