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Marco Rubio arrives in Israel on first trip to Middle East as U.S. secretary of state

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel late on Saturday on his first trip to the Middle East, after a widely condemned proposal by President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians in Gaza.

Trump first floated the suggestion that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza on January 25, a proposal they strongly opposed.

TRUMP’S GAZA RELOCATION PROPOSAL SPARKS HEATED DEBATE AMONG PALESTINIANS: ‘NO LIFE LEFT HERE’

In a shock announcement on February 4, after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, Trump proposed resettling Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians and the U.S. taking control and ownership of the demolished seaside enclave, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

On February 10, he said Palestinians would not have the right of return to Gaza under his plan, contradicting his own officials who had suggested Gazans would only be relocated temporarily.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he arrives in Israel, on the first leg of his Middle East trip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 15, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool)

The U.S. president’s comments echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes and were labeled as a proposal of ethnic cleansing by some critics.

U.S. ally Israel’s military assault on Gaza, now paused by a fragile ceasefire, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in the last 16 months, the Gaza health ministry says, and provoked accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.

The assault internally displaced nearly all of Gaza’s population and caused a hunger crisis.

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The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, Israeli tallies show.

Rubio will discuss Gaza and the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel during the trip, and will pursue Trump’s approach of trying to disrupt the status quo in the region, a State Department official said last week.

February 15, 2025
Marco Rubio calls out South Africa, refuses to attend G-20 summit

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is refusing to attend the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Johannesburg this year, in protest of the South African government’s controversial land seizure bill.

The bill, which was signed last week, permits South African authorities to expropriate land “for a public purpose or in the public interest,” promising “just and equitable compensation” to those impacted by the bill. Although the majority of South African citizens are Black, most landowners are White — and this disparity has been a topic in South Africa for years.

The law also allows expropriation of land without compensation, but only in circumstances where it is “just and equitable and in the public interest.”

The G-20 summit is scheduled to kick off on Nov. 22 — but in a social media post on Wednesday, Rubio wrote definitively that he “will NOT” be there.

US FOREIGN AID IS SUPPOSED TO SERVE AMERICAN INTERESTS, SAYS MARC THIESSEN

Marco Rubio is refusing to go to South Africa for G-20. (iStock / Getty)

“South Africa is doing very bad things,” Rubio’s X post read. “Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.’”

“In other words: DEI and climate change,” the Republican added. “My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”

President Donald Trump‘s administration has been vocally critical of the land seizure bill. In a Truth Social post, Trump called the situation a “massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum.”

RUBIO HEADS TO PANAMA, LATIN AMERICA TO PURSUE TRUMP’S ‘GOLDEN AGE’ AGENDA

Secretary of State Marco Rubio boards a plane en route to El Salvador at Panama Pacifico International Airport in Panama City on Monday. Rubio is in Panama on a two-day official visit. (Mark Schiefelbein/Pool AP/AFP via Getty Images)

“It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention,” Trump wrote in a post. “The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”

The South African government has coolly responded to the Trump administration’s accusations, denying that any unjust confiscation has occurred.

“We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement. “We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters”.

In an interview with Fox News Digital, South African analyst Frans Cronje proposed that Trump alluded to the ongoing killing of farmers in South Africa when he talked about certain classes of people being treated “very badly.” The attacks have been perpetuated against both White and Black farmers.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, left, and President Donald Trump, who has criticized the country’s new land laws. (Evan Vucci/AP/Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images)

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“President Trump’s recent comments on land seizures in South Africa cannot be divorced from his past comments on violent attacks directed at the country’s farmers,” Cronje said. “Whilst these comments have often been dismissed as false, the latest South African data suggests that the country’s commercial farmers are six times more likely to be violently attacked in their homes than is the case for the general population.”

Fox News Digital’s Paul Tisley contributed to this report.

Andrea Margolis is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Readers can send story tips to [email protected].

February 6, 2025
Marco Rubio tells Chinese foreign minister Trump admin will put ‘American people first’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Chinese Foreign Minister and Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi that the Trump administration will put the “American people first” and advance U.S. interests in its relationship with China, according to a readout of the call from spokesperson Tammy Bruce.

The meeting was the first between Rubio and Wang since the former Florida senator was unanimously approved by the Senate this week to become President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet official following Monday’s inauguration.

“The Secretary also stressed the United States’ commitment to our allies in the region and serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea,” Bruce said. “The Secretary also discussed other issues of bilateral, regional, and global importance with his Chinese counterpart.”

MARCO RUBIO HEADING TO PANAMA ON FIRST TRIP AS SECRETARY OF STATE: ‘WE WON’T CONTINUE TO IGNORE THE REGION’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Chinese Foreign Minister and Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Commission Wang Yi that the Trump administration will put the “American people first” and advance U.S. interests in its relationship with China, according to a readout of the call from spokesperson Tammy Bruce. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz/File)

Wang told Rubio during the call that he hoped he would “conduct” himself well and “play a constructive role in the future of the Chinese and American people and in world peace and stability.”

He added that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had already set the tone for U.S.-Chinese relations.

TRUMP, CHINA’S XI SPEAK ON PHONE AHEAD OF INAUGURATION

President Donald Trump on Thursday told the World Economic Forum virtually that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have “always had a great relationship,” and all his administration wants is “fairness. We just want a level playing field.” (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images)

“The teams of both sides should implement the important consensus of the two heads of state, maintain communication, manage differences, expand cooperation, promote the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-U.S. relations, and find the right way for China and the United States to get along in the new era,” Wang said.

MARCO RUBIO CLASHES WITH NBC ‘TODAY’ HOST WHEN PRESSED ON TRUMP’S JAN. 6 PARDONS

Trump has threatened China with 10% tariffs on imports over its role in fentanyl trafficking, starting as early as Feb. 1, and Rubio called the country the gravest threat to the U.S. during his confirmation hearing.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, flanked by his wife, Jeanette, and Vice President JD Vance, is sworn in on Tuesday in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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Trump n Thursday told the World Economic Forum virtually that he and Xi have “always had a great relationship,” and all his administration wants is “fairness. We just want a level playing field.”

January 25, 2025
Marco Rubio heading to Panama for first trip as secretary of state

Newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Panama for his first international trip as the nation’s top diplomat, Fox News has learned.

Though details are still being worked out, the visit could come as early as next week.

The planned trip comes after repeated vows by President Donald Trump – who returned to the White House on Monday – to take back the Panama Canal.

Trump mentioned the Panama Canal again during his inaugural address on Monday, claiming that it was now in the hands of China and vowing to take it back.

MARCO RUBIO CLASHES WITH NBC ‘TODAY’ HOST WHEN PRESSED ON TRUMP’S JAN. 6 PARDONS

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks after being sworn in by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” Trump said.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino responded forcefully to Trump’s comments on Wednesday saying, “we reject in its entirety everything that Mr. Trump has said. First, because it is false and second, because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama.”

The Marshall Islands cargo ship Cape Hellas (L) and the Portuguese cargo ship MSC Elma sail on Gatun Lake near the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon City, Panama, on December 28, 2024. (ARNULFO FRANCO/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. built the canal in the early 1900s under then President Theodore Roosevelt as it looked for ways to facilitate the transit of commercial and military vessels between its coasts. Washington relinquished control of the waterway to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999, under a treaty signed in 1977 by then President Jimmy Carter.

TRUMP WARNS FEMA FACES A RECKONING AFTER BIDEN ADMIN: ‘NOT DONE THEIR JOB’

News of Rubio’s trip was first reported by Politico and could include other Central American countries like Guatemala and El Salvador, where Rubio is expected to address a top priority of curbing mass migration that he outlined earlier this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is sworn by Vice President JD Vance in the Vice Presidential Ceremonial Office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington, as his wife, Jeanette Rubio, looks on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce tells Fox News that “Secretary Rubio is prioritizing the region because it’s where we live,” adding “we won’t continue to ignore the region as other administrations have.”

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She added: “Engaging with our neighbors is a vital element in addressing migration, supply chains, and economic growth, which are key to Secretary Rubio’s pursuit of foreign policy focused on making America strong, prosperous, and safe.”

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, political issues, and much more.

January 23, 2025