Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN and one of the prominent voices on the American Right, says Israel should ignore the restrictions that President Joe Biden is imposing on it regarding the war in Gaza. Instead, in her view, the fighting should continue until Hamas is eliminated.
Video: Excerpts from Nikki Haley's interview with Israel Hayom / Credit: Moshe Ben Simchon
In an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, as part of her first tour of the country since the outbreak of the war, Haley attacked Biden and said, "You can't hold back weapons from an ally. So if we want to be a friend to Israel, the best thing America can do is let Israel do its job and just support we shouldn't be preaching to Israel, we shouldn't be telling them how to win the war, we shouldn't tell them what they can or can't do. We should just be saying, what else do you need? Bottom line? That's it. That's what I want to see America do is be a friend, a true friend, and make sure all the other countries that are aligned with us are a true friend with Israel too."
Q: But the administration has not been doing that. Rather, it has been telling us what to do. For example, 'Don't enter Rafah, bring more and more humanitarian aid' – which goes to Hamas – and so on. What, then, should Israel do? Abide by what the administration says or choose the path of war as we see fit.
"Israel needs to tune out the noise and finish the job. We know that they have to go into Rafah. I know they have to go into Rafa because that's so much where the Hamas movement still is. For them not to go into Rafa is to lead the terrorists still in power. I also know that a lot of the aid that is going into Gaza is feeding Hamas, fueling Hamas using they're using it, and the Palestinians really aren't getting much of it. But this goes back to the fact that if the Palestinians want a better life, they need to get rid of Hamas. They need to change leadership; they need to understand that they are in this situation because of the leaders around them. This is not Israel's job to save the Palestinians, the Palestinians should want to save themselves by getting rid of the terrorists who are trying to control them who are using them as human shields."
Video: Nikki Haley visits the Gaza-border communities affected by the Oct. 7 atrocities / Credit: Moshe Ben Simchon
Haley stressed that Israel must make sure to finish the job the lest Hamas resurges and do the same atrocities it committed on Oct. 7. "The best way to make sure it doesn't happen again is to do it right the first time. And we know that as long as Hamas exists, it can happen again. That's why I've said from the very beginning you need to finish them once and for all."
Haley recently announced she was dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, having surprised many by finishing second in the states she contested. In an interview with Israel Hayom, she addressed her political future and explained, among other things, why she will vote for Trump in November despite the harsh criticism she leveled against him on the stump. Additionally, she called for imposing American sanctions on the international courts at The Hague and demanded that the Biden administration use its veto to protect Israel at the UN. Haley emphasized that the US faces a threat from terrorism by extreme Islam and noted that the treatment of Israel is a test for the Western world.
"I want Israelis to know you're doing the right thing. Don't let anybody make you feel wrong because Israel is not wrong in this. There are a lot of countries in the world that are wrong because they're siding with the terrorists, and that needs to end. And we need to acknowledge the fact that the last thing Israel needs is for us to go stab them in the back when they when they're already down."
Her visit to the country was organized by MK Danny Danon, the former Israeli ambassador to the UN. The two have been close friends since serving together at the UN as representatives of their countries. The conversation with her was held in the office of the mayor of Sderot, Alon Davidi, who hosted her Tuesday in the city as part of a tour of the southern communities hit by the Oct. 7 terrorists.
