Eva Traui
Appearances
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Hey, good morning. So his main message is pushing Trump's plan for Gaza and ensuring the ceasefire there holds long enough to release all Israeli hostages held there by Hamas. And he made clear the U.S.-Israeli alliance has never been stronger, particularly under Trump, of course.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Now, he arrived in Israel the day after another exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees took place in prisoners. And this ceasefire deal, it expires in two weeks. All right. So Trump officials are saying now that there will be a second phase of this deal to bring home more hostages.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
So while Rubio's visit is to see all of this through on the Israeli side, he's also in the region to reinforce Trump's plan after the ceasefire to rebuild Gaza under U.S. ownership and permanently displace Palestinians outside. And after meeting Netanyahu in Israel yesterday, Rubio doubled down on the plan.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Well, Netanyahu has called Trump's vision for Gaza revolutionary and says it did not come as a surprise because they'd spoken about it before it was announced by Trump earlier this month.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
And while addressing the conference of major American Jewish organizations yesterday in Israel, Netanyahu said Gaza has been described as the biggest open air prison, but that people there now should have the choice to leave. And he said this.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Well, today actually marks 500 days of this war since the deadly October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel in 2023. And public sentiment here in the region has turned even harder on Israel. And that's because of the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza since.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Now, Saudi Arabia's crown prince was close to establishing ties with Israel two years ago, but he has since described Israel's war in Gaza as a genocide. And so there's really no indication that ties with Israel and Saudi Arabia are on the horizon, at least for the moment. Now, the thing to keep in mind is that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, A, rely on U.S.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
military support and they have business ties with Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. But they also have an oil pact and business ties with Russia. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also positioning themselves as brokers between the U.S. and Russia.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Now, you know, Rubio is leading a team of White House officials today to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Kremlin officials during their time there to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Now, these talks are ahead of what could be a Trump-Putin summit in Saudi Arabia.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Ukraine says they're not part of the talks today, but Ukraine's president is in the UAE right now, and he's expected to head next to Saudi Arabia.
Up First from NPR
Paris Emergency Summit, Marco Rubio in the Middle East, Trump's First Month
Thanks a lot.