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U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined CNN This Morning to discuss Israel’s response to last weekend’s horrific terror attacks by Hamas, the Hamas leader’s call for a “day of rage,” and more. See below for highlights and watch the full interview on YouTube and Rumble.

On Hamas’s playbook in Gaza: 

“They attack Israel, they kill a bunch of Jews, and then they retreat back into Gaza. They hide behind human shields deliberately. They have been messaging for days, when they had their TV network running and their radio stations, telling people not to leave their homes. [Hamas] hides behind civilians. Then the attacks come in response, and unfortunately, people die. And they run to the global press and say, look at what horrible things Israel is doing. Everyone then pressures Israel to stop, and Hamas survives. They come back and kill more Jews again. That’s the pattern that continues to repeat itself. 

“Israel from the very beginning has been messaging [about the danger of civilian casualties], and they take extraordinary steps to try to avoid it. [These] killers are literally using human beings as shields and hiding behind them. [They] are in the system of tunnels they have with their own bunkers, their own fuel supply, their own food supply, and they leave the civilians to die. [Hamas] doesn’t value life. They don’t value any life, and they certainly don’t value the lives of their own people. They want to be the government of their own country. You can only imagine [how that would turn out]. 

“This is a very difficult situation. I just don’t know what other option Israel has. How can they possibly coexist with an organization that doesn’t just butcher babies, but whose explicit purpose for existing is to drive all Jews out of the region and create a new country that stretches from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, with no Jews and run by a fundamentalist Islamic government like Hamas?”

On whether there can be good faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians:

“In order to have that, you have to have some trusted party on the other side that you can work with. You cannot have a…negotiation with any entity that exists for the express purpose of your destruction. I have my own problems with the Palestinian Authority and the things that they have done, but at least in their organizing principles, they acknowledge that there is a role to play for a Jewish state. I don’t know how much they mean that. There’s obviously some nuances involved there. But Hamas exists for the express purpose of destroying Israel and eliminating the Jewish state. 

“In fact, the Hamas argument to Palestinians is, ‘Trust us instead of the Palestinian Authority because we are even harsher than they are. We will kill more Jews, we will run them out of here, and we will create the Palestinian state that stretches across all of what we know today to be Israel, not just the West Bank and Gaza.’ In some respects, these attacks and the ones from 2021 are as much a domestic play as they are an anti-Israeli play. It is them trying to position themselves as the most prominent Palestinian faction in the area, and they believe that kidnapping innocent civilians and murdering babies positions them to do that, to to be in that role…. 

“No one should pretend that they have somewhere in their pocket some master plan that fixes all this. It is a deeply complex situation that stretches back thousands of years. That said, the one thing that’s pretty clear is that you cannot coexist with an entity that has armaments and the willingness to use them to slaughter your people. You just can’t.”

On the Hamas leader calling for a “day of rage”:

“It is one thing to say, ‘I am in favor of the Palestinian cause,’ or, ‘I think Palestinians are in charge,’ and, ‘[They] should have their own country.’ I think it’s a bit naive at this point to say that, but it’s a position that you can be in. It is another thing to say, ‘I’m going to take to the streets at the beck and call, at the specific instruction of the group that just butchered a bunch of babies.’ Those are two very different things. 

“It’s disturbing to see it internationally. It’s really disturbing to see Americans and people here in the U.S. in the streets marching in response to a call from the organization that just carried out these atrocities. I think that’s very disturbing to see play out now. As far as the region is concerned, I think the Jordanians are nervous about what could happen there in their own streets. I think the Egyptians are nervous as well, and that’s why they do not want to allow Palestinian refugees into Egypt.”

On the security concerns of neighboring countries:

“Multiple countries in the region are nervous about the views of their own population, which is why I see why I think you see some of them put out statements even as they, from a back doorway, cooperate with Israel on many things. They put out these statements because they have their own streets to manage. That’s a real concern…. 

“We have to keep a very close eye as Israel does move into Gaza and tries to eradicate Hamas. What happens then? Does that now force or trigger a response from Hezbollah and from Iran and from other elements aligned with them? I don’t think anybody should sugarcoat this. This is a very dangerous, very volatile, very unpredictable situation. 

“There’s something Israel has to do. They have to get rid of this group, and we should try to mitigate other things from happening, from becoming a multi-front conflict. But I also think we need to acknowledge that this is a very uncertain terrain and a very dangerous one. I think everyone’s nervous about it, including every country in the region, not just Israel.”