Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley told ABC News on Thursday that Egypt, as well as “pro-Hamas countries” such as Qatar, Iran and Turkey, should take in Palestinian Arabs who flee the war in Gaza.
Asked where Gazans who flee the fighting should go, Haley responded, “They should be going to the Rafah gate and [have] Egypt take them. But I’ve always said that what you should have is that they should go to pro-Hamas countries — Qatar, Iran, Turkey… send them there… Those are pro-Hamas countries.”
“Why won’t Egypt take them? Because they don’t trust which ones are terrorists and which ones aren’t. It’s a sad state of affairs, but the reality of that evil is very clear in Arab countries too. Arab countries have very much always been cautious and know the threats that Iran can place,” continued Haley.
“They don’t want those terrorist proxies coming after them. Saudi Arabia felt the Houthis in that fight for Yemen. Egypt knows exactly what they can do.”
“Instead of the world hitting on Israel, who was brought to her knees in the worst invasion since the Holocaust, why isn’t everybody talking to Egypt? Why aren’t they talking to Turkey? Why aren’t they talking to Qatar? Why aren’t they talking to Iran? Why aren’t they doing something to help the Palestinians? Why is it that you come back to Israel and the US? It’s always the case,” Haley said, noting that everyone loves to help Israel when it is hit, but also loves to criticize Israel when it hits back.
“If [the Hamas October 7 attack] had happened to America, do you not think that we would have hit back? Where are the friends of those pro-Hamas people? Where are the friends of Gaza? They should be the ones doing what needs to be done to save them. It shouldn’t be on Israel, who watched their people get butchered on October 7.”