Former US Ambassador to the UN and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday blasted Hamas after it was confirmed that Judith Weinstein Haggai, who held US citizenship, was murdered in the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7.
“Another American is confirmed murdered by Hamas. Finish them,” wrote Haley on X.
Kibbutz Nir Oz announced earlier on Thursday that Weinstein Haggai had been murdered on October 7 after she had been presumed kidnapped for over two months.
On the morning of October 7, when Hamas launched its attack, Judith and her husband Gadi went out for their regular morning walk in the fields and vineyards of the kibbutz. Judith managed to notify friends that they had been shot and that Gadi was critically injured. This was the last contact anyone had with them.
Gadi was confirmed to have been murdered last week. Both Judith and Gadi held US citizenships, and Judith also held Canadian citizenship.
Haley has continued to be supportive of Israel during her election campaign. Last week, she told ABC News 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.
She previously weighed in on the question of who should control Gaza after the war.
"I think Israel, Israel does not want Gaza, but they don't want terrorists living in Gaza. So I think it needs to be a situation where the Israeli border is safe and protected and Gaza is no longer a bed for terrorists to act. And so I think we have to figure out how this is going to work," Haley said.
"I don't think it's something that Israel wants. I do think that it's a place that should be free and open and safe, but not with terrorist activity. So Israel is going to have to be involved in that. You can't go through something like Oct. 7 and chance that happening to your people again because Hamas has already said that they're going back. They're going to do it again," added Haley.