Rubio: Iran will be held ‘responsible’ over attacks on Americans
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio Tuesday warned that any attack on Americans in Israel will be perceived as a responsibility of Iran.
“The message needs to be, if the U.S. is attacked, or this thing is escalated that implicates whether its U.S. service members or facilities in the region, whether its Iran directly or through its their proxies, we’re going to hold Iran responsible,” Rubio said on ABC News. “We are going to consider it an attack on the Iranian state and we will respond in kind.”
Iranian state television reportedly broadcasted members of parliament out of their seats chanting “Death to Israel” and “Palestine is victorious, Israel will be destroyed” over the weekend.
Operating out of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Hamas is backed by Shi’ite Iran. At least 1,200 people, including 14 Americans, have died as result of Hamas’ ongoing assault in Israel.
Rubio berated the terrorist group while affirming his support to the Jewish state at a Israeli Solidarity Rally in Miami on Wednesday.
“This organization that likes to talk about occupation, they have occupied Gaza. Their name is Hamas. It is an organization whose mission statement is explicit and unequivocal. They want to kill every Jew in the Middle East or drive every one of them out of the region,” Rubio said.
Rubio added Hamas’ stated goal is to “create an Islamic fundamentalist Palestinian state that reaches from the Mediterranean to the Jordan.”
Of the thousands killed since Saturday, Hamas massacred at least 250 youths at a music festival in Southern Israel. The terrorist group has also raped young woman, slaughtered babies and took senior citizens captive.
Rubio referred to Hamas as an enemy that “must be destroyed, must be eradicated, must be eliminated, must be degraded, and cannot be allowed to continue to exist.”
He added Tehran, Iran’s capital, as Hamas’ patron over the attacks.
Hamas’ initial assault on Israel was the single deadliest day for Jews since the end of the Holocaust. Rubio reflected that Israel has been “tested from the day it was founded, and now it is tested in the greatest trial it has faced in at least 50 years.”
He also warned the war could be difficult for weeks and months ahead.
“Conflicts like these are never easy, but there is no other choice but to move forward and eradicate these killers, these degenerates,” Rubio said.
As war with Hamas rages on, Rubio vowed to help protect the Jewish state as long as he serves an United States senator.
“I will be one of those that will be raising their voices and saying, not only does Israel have a right, it has an obligation and a duty to eliminate these Hamas killers, and that the United States must provide them with everything they need to achieve that goal.”
