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Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was today (Tuesday) awarded the Arutz Sheva Jerusalem Prize ahead of the Autz Sheva and Besheva conference that will be held in New York on Sunday.
"Part of me feels like it's not necessary," Ambassador Haley said upon receiving the award. "Because when I speak truth, you don't want to get an award for speaking truth, and I just wish more people would do it."
"You look at what's happening now, even with October 7 everyone needs to know [that] you should always stand up for what's right. What Israel is doing is right. It's always been doing the right thing," she said.
"The only thing I know to do is call out those that are wrong, because I know Israel's right. I've known that from the beginning. I see it, I see how they conduct themselves and what they do, but we have to keep telling the truth, we have to keep getting the word out," she added.
"I've seen this so many times at the United Nations, everybody runs to Israel when she's been hit," Haley noted. "But everybody's quick to criticize her when she hits back. If this were any other country, if this had happened to any other country, that country would be up in arms, screaming, yelling, everything, and saying everyone should help them. And we should. Israel is no different."
"You have to acknowledge that this was Iran, who gave all the training to Hamas and the funding to Hamas," she said. "They used Russian intelligence. And here China's been buying oil from Iran. We have to start calling out who is helping make these bad things happen."
Haley blamed the rise in antisemitism on American college campuses on the universities' taking of money from Arab and Muslim nations. "We shouldn't be taking any foreign money into our universities. That's the first thing that needs to stop."
"The second thing is, if there is a college campus where they are not protecting Jewish students, then their tax-exempt status should be pulled from them, because that is their number one job," she said.
"I want the people of Israel to know, Americans are with you. We love you. We want to stand beside you. We want to make sure everything is ok," she said, noting that the anti-Israel crowd in America is a vocal minority that does not represent the views of the majority.
MK Danny Danon, who invited Haley to Israel for a solidarity visit this week, said, "I want to thank Arutz Sheva for awarding Ambassador Haley for her moral clarity. She speaks her mind, she stood with Israel at the UN, and she stands with Israel today."
"She came to Israel and she told me very clearly: 'Finish the job. Finish Hamas. That's what you have to do. Ignore the voices from the outside.' She was always a true friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people and she will continue to be a great friend of Israel. I think it's a worthy award for leadership and friendship," Danon said.