In a wide-ranging interview Tuesday on WABC Radio’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning”, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed growing concerns over domestic and international terrorism, the war in Gaza, and mounting pressure from European governments.
Speaking with host Sid Rosenberg, Rubio offered a candid look into the State Department’s internal deliberations and underscored the urgency of confronting threats to US and Israeli security.
When asked why the US hasn’t designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as terrorist organizations, Rubio confirmed that the administration is actively reviewing such classifications.
“Yeah, all of that is in the works,” Rubio said. “Obviously there are different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, so you’d have to designate each one of them.”
Rubio emphasized the legal complexity of such designations, noting that any move would be subject to judicial scrutiny.
“You have to show your work like a math problem when you go before court,” he explained. “All you need is one federal judge... that is willing to do these nationwide injunctions and basically try to run the country from the bench.”
Rubio added that the administration is “constantly reviewing for groups to designate for what they are: supporters of terrorists, maybe terrorists themselves.”
On the war in Gaza, Rubio was unequivocal in his support for Israel’s right to defend itself and eliminate Hamas.
“The war ends the day Hamas stops existing as a military threat,” Rubio declared. “That’s the bottom line people don’t understand.”
He criticized the international community’s shift in focus from the atrocities of October 7 to the humanitarian crisis, arguing that Hamas is solely responsible for both.
“They have held captive the 2 million people that live in Gaza. That’s their human shield,” Rubio said. “We should spend an equal amount of time talking about the fact that... there are 20 living human beings in deep suffering underneath tunnels.”
Rubio stressed that peace is impossible while Hamas remains intact.
“You will not have peace in Gaza as long as Hamas exists,” he said. “The sooner people grasp that, the sooner they understand what the objective has to be here.”
Rubio also dismissed threats from European nations like France, the UK, and Ireland to impose diplomatic consequences if peace isn’t achieved soon.
“It’s symbolic, and they’re doing it primarily for one reason, and that is their internal politics,” Rubio said. “It’s not going to be decided by some UN resolution... It’s going to be decided on the ground.”
He reiterated that the path to peace begins with removing terrorist governance from Palestinian Authority territories.
“As long as people govern these spaces who are going to attack Israel, you are not going to have peace,” he said. “It begins by eliminating... the organizations that are willing to attack Israel.”