Major Hurricane Milton is forecasted to impact Florida with devastating storm surge, winds, and inland flooding. After just being hit by Hurricane Helene, it’s crucial for the State of Florida to have the support of the federal government. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio...
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ICYMI: Rubio Joins Hannity
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Hannity to discuss the latest on the Israel-Hamas war, the threat it poses to America, and more. Watch the full interview on YouTube and Rumble.
On Israel’s next steps in the war with Hamas:
“Hamas is an organization that exists blatantly and explicitly to wipe out Israel. They say it openly. They don’t hide that. For whatever reason, us people in the West don’t believe these people when they say these things. We think it’s just a figure of speech. They actually mean this, and they’re willing to slaughter babies and kill teenage girls out in the desert to do it. Israel cannot coexist alongside a group like this. No nation on earth should be asked to coexist with an armed element that wants to wipe you off the face of the earth and is willing to commit these sorts of atrocities. Israel has no choice. They have no option here but to eliminate Hamas.
“Now, what does Hamas do? It’s part of their strategy. They’ve done it over and over again, and Hezbollah does it as well. They attack Israel. They kill Jews. Then they take off running, and they go hide behind civilians. Israel responds, and for a few days, you see a tremendous amount of sympathy for Israel. But then as the days go on, Hamas and the others come out and say, look what they’ve done, look what they’ve bombed, look what’s happened. Not telling you, of course, that they’re hiding behind these people. The pressure builds from the West and the media and others for Israel to stop.
“This time has to be different. Israel cannot stop until this job is done, and America’s job is to supply them with what they need to get that job done. They’re not asking us to fight. They’re not asking for our soldiers. They’re not asking for airstrikes. They are saying, if we run out of ammunition, if we run out of equipment, we will buy it from you, but resupply us. And our answer should be absolutely yes. That’s our job here. And it has to get done.”
On Iran’s history of sponsoring terrorism:
“Iran takes every dollar you give them not to build hospitals, not to create prosperity for their people, they take this money to sponsor terrorism. It’s not just Hamas, it’s the Houthis, it’s Hezbollah. It’s all of these Shia militia groups inside of Iraq that target Americans. It’s what they did in Iraq for all those years. Those IEDs that were being built that killed and maimed Americans, all of that came from Iran.
“Here’s the bottom line, okay? None of this other stuff matters. All this silly talk, people debating: did Iran know or not know, that’s actually irrelevant. Hamas does not exist as a viable entity without Iranian support, and they do not have any of the weapons, equipment or technology that was used in this attack without Iranian support.
“I think the message from the United States needs to be, Israel is going to take care of Hamas. If an American is killed or harmed anywhere in the region by Iran or by Iranian proxies, these groups they hide behind, we will consider it an attack by the Iranian state against the United States, and we will immediately and strongly respond to that. That message has to be abundantly clear to Iran.
“I’m not looking to engage in another regional war. I don’t think that’s what Israel is asking for. But we cannot allow Iran to see this as an opportunity to attack American troops in the region or American personnel in the region and hide behind some group out there that they can then claim wasn’t them, but we know it was. That message, I hope, has been delivered.”
On American progressives’ naivete about Islamic regimes:
“We have a disease in the West of people that are incredibly naive at best. That’s the nicest thing I can say about them. They think these people think like us, that their priorities are like ours. These are radical Islamic regimes. That’s what governs Iran, and that’s the theology behind groups like Hamas and Hezbollah as well. They do not value life the way we do. For them, death is a form of worship. For them, martyrdom is something to aspire to.
“They actually openly talk about how Israelis and the Westerners actually value life, and they actually don’t and are willing to die and sacrifice and be martyred for it. We think that they’re Belgians. We think that they’re French. We think that you can sit down with them and reach an agreement on any misunderstanding. You cannot, with these people. The only language they understand is strength. I wish that weren’t so, but that is the case. That is the cultural difference between their ideology and ours. We get bit by it every single time.
“Iran will use every dollar we give them to sponsor terrorism. If, God forbid, they ever get a nuclear weapon, they will use it not not to threaten Israel, but to try to destroy it. That is their mindset. That is the mindset of the ideology. I’m not talking about the people. There are plenty of Iranians that would love to get rid of the ayatollahs, but those are the people in charge in that country. Just like Gaza. The people in charge there, the people that run it, the people who want their own country so they can be the government of this own country, are these bloodthirsty killers, these savages, these degenerates.
“To believe that somehow Israel could peacefully coexist with them is just not true. It’s not a reality. They need to be wiped out. Israel is going to do it. We need to help them and stick with them, not abandon them two weeks from now, when the New York Times starts writing articles about how terrible this is. Every single civilian that dies in Gaza is the fault of Hamas. They don’t let them leave, and they hide behind them deliberately. They do it on purpose. We can’t keep falling for this, or they’ll be back to kill more Jews, and if they could get their hands on us, more Americans.”
On the connection between the border crisis and terrorists entering our country:
“Here’s the other thing a lot of people don’t realize. You can buy a passport, you can buy documents. Venezuela will actually give it to these guys, but you can buy them in many countries. In Latin America, someone who comes from some other part of the world can buy a document that…makes it sound like they’re from that country. In many cases, we’re looking at documentation from people that they bought….
“If you put yourself in the position of a terrorist organization, why would you send someone here to go through TSA vetting and all the other things that go through customs, when you can simply walk up to the border of the United States and walk right in? They watch the news. They see how easy it is to get into this country. If you were al Qaeda today, you wouldn’t try to get these guys in through student visas. You’d just tell them, go to the border, turn yourself in, claim asylum, and you’ll be released into the country, in some places with public benefits along the way. That’s just common sense.
“The thing that I fear the most is not the organized plot. That’s a big deal, but you have some chance of identifying and disrupting it. It’s the lone wolf. It’s the one or two individuals who hear about this ‘Day of Rage’ that’s supposed to happen tomorrow, and they are inspired to take that moment to attack a synagogue, to kill people in the streets, to turn it into ‘Kill a Jew Day,’ which is in parts the world a terminology that’s actually used. I think that’s very worrisome. I’m not trying to panic anybody, but not just tomorrow, but in the days to come, the lone wolf attack is a real threat in America and across the world, as you have this effort to inspire violence coming from these elements.”