Secretary of State Marco Rubio to abolish controversial Office of Palestinian Affairs

By 
 May 7, 2025

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his support for Israel, evening recognizing Jerusalem as its capital during his first term.

Another move favoring the Jewish state came this week when Secretary of State Marco Rubio abolished the Office of Palestinian Affairs (OPA) which had been created under President Joe Biden. 

OPA will be merged in to U.S. embassy

According to CNN, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed on Tuesday that the OPA will be merged with the United States embassy in Jerusalem.

Bruce explained during a press briefing that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee "will take the steps necessary to implement the merger over the coming weeks."

"This decision will restore the first Trump term framework of a unified US diplomatic mission in Israel’s capital that reports to the US ambassador to Israel," she insisted.

Bruce told reporters that the OPA's closure is "very similar to what’s happening here with the bureaus" and involves "making sure that the issues that are important are all working together right" rather than being "segmented."

Republicans welcome end of OPA

Breitbart noted that Rubio's decision was welcomed by many conservatives, including Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, who praised it in an X post.

"The Biden State Department violated federal law to open the OPA and it only served to sabotage Israel at every turn in the wake of Hamas’s terror attacks," McCormick wrote.

"This is the correct move by President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and Ambassador Huckabee to support our great ally and reverse the previous administration’s undermining of Israel," the senator added.

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton spoke up as well, saying, "The U.S.-Israeli relationship should be handled exclusively by the appointed representatives at our Embassy in Jerusalem, not by anti-Israel activists working with the terrorist-supporting Palestinian Authority."

OPA called on Israel not to retaliate for October 7 attack

Meanwhile, the Washington Free Beacon pointed out that the OPA "repeatedly earned the ire of Republican lawmakers for its anti-Israel advocacy."

One example of that came the October 7, 2023 terror attack which left roughly 1400 people dead and hundred more taken hostage.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the OPA put up a since deleted social media post that called on Israel to refrain from taking retaliatory measures.

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