Former American Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C.
Her appearance came as reports arrived that Hamas launched rockets from Gaza that smashed into a home right outside of Tel Aviv injuring a family of seven, including a toddler and an infant.
Haley was asked how during her UN tenure she would ensure it was clear the U.S. stood with Israel in these types of incidents.
Haley answered, "You know, what's interesting is at the U.N., I can guarantee you this morning it is radio silent. They are not saying anything about Hamas, they're not saying anything about the lives lost, they're not saying anything, but if it was any one of those countries, they'd be calling an emergency security council meeting.
"But this is where I want you to have hope, because in all these years, last year for the first time, the majority of the general membership of the U.N. voted for a resolution that acknowledged Hamas and acknowledged the terror that they were spreading and acknowledged how bad they were. That was an amazing thing and what we have to make sure they know is Hamas is a terrorist group that needs to be stopped and we can't ever be quiet about it."
Haley was asked why it seems the U.N. historically has focused on the Israeli response to an attack versus the attack itself. Haley replied: "What I've learned is at the U.N., it's just been this way for so long that they do that, but the story behind one of my meetings was I was meeting with a couple of Arab countries and we were talking about Yemen and one of them said, I just don't understand why isn't anybody calling out Hezbollah, why aren't they sitting there saying something about what's being done all of these things that are happening, because they were upset that that terrorist group was doing something they shouldn't be doing.
"And I turned around and I said, if you're upset about that, what's the difference between that and Hamas and Israel? They were stunned, but when our meeting was over, they pulled me to the side and they said, you're right, we know you're right, but we have to do this for our constituents. That's what they're doing this for. It's for sound bites for their constituents.
"They don't honestly think that way. It's just they've done it for so long they do what they think they've always had to do."
Recounting some of her brightest accomplishments, Haley began by saying " Still being alive today. Surviving the U.N. was -- surviving and I still have my heels on, by the way... I hope everybody in this audience is really proud of what we accomplished at the U.N., because if we just go down the list, we got out of UNESCO, we got out of the Iran deal and pointed the finger where it needed to be pointed, which was on Iran, we got out of The Human Rights Council, which for once, now other countries are actually holding the burden and realizing they need to do something about the anti-Israel bias.
"We got them to acknowledge Hamas for the first time and by the way, we moved the Embassy to Jerusalem. We got the Israeli bashing session that happened every month to not sit there and just bash Israel, we actually started a conversation about what really are the issues in the Middle East, like what was happening in Yemen, like what was happening with terrorists, like what we were trying to do in all of these other countries that mattered as opposed to it being about Israel."
Haley told of moments when the UN's focus was directed at Israel: "It was like everybody was bullying this kid in the corner and it was abusive and it was wrong and it was just unwarranted. That was the biggest thing is it was unwarranted. You know, here was such a strong democracy sitting in a neighborhood that's so dangerous and in any other situation, you'd be lifting that country up and having their back and instead they were kicking them.
"And so really, when you see something like that, whether it's Israel or anything else, you have to stand up and fight. You have to stand up and fight for those that don't think they can stand up for themselves. You look at Israel now, Israel's alive and kicking and they're going to continue to do that."
Haley explained why in her opinion there is such reluctance to have fairness and balance when it comes to Israel in the UN: "I think this goes back to after the 1967 War. I think that everyone suddenly realized that Israel couldn't be defeated and what that meant was they had to go after them diplomatically. And so all of the Arab countries led the charge on going after them diplomatically and because of their influence, because of the oil, because of so many other reasons, other countries felt the need to follow them.
"And that is why, towards the end, we absolutely called out the Arab countries on what they were doing and we need to keep doing that, because at the end of the day, I don't know that they believe this anymore. I think they've done it because they always have, but even you could see the embarrassment.
"You could see the fact none of the countries wanted to be called out. You could see the fact that they were actually looking in the mirror and I think we just can't let up on that."
Haley also discussed Iranian aggression: "I think we have to isolate Iran like we isolated North Korea, because they're one in the same. They're doing the same thing. They're suppressing their people; they're building up their military weapons. I mean, we have to separate them and make them feel isolated and I think we did that by getting out of the Iran deal. I think the Europeans are starting to realize that that's not going to be sustainable and they're going to have to come up with another option.
"I think we need to stop with the waivers. If you want to talk about BDS, if you were doing business with Iran, that's who we should be talking about in terms of a country that we don't want to have any companies do business with."
Haley concluded saying "I do want to end on one note, because after coming out of the U.N., there's something that I think is very important to everybody, the way the political atmosphere is right now it's so toxic. It's so toxic and you know how you know it's toxic is because if you put a good piece of legislation on the table, everybody wants to know whose it is first before they decide whether to support it. That's wrong.
"Political parties now see each other as evil and they're not evil, because I've seen evil. I've seen, in Democratic Republic of Congo, where the military comes in and I've heard women who've said they've taken their babies and thrown them in fires, I've been to South Sudan where they use rape as a weapon of war, I've watched as Assad has killed innocent children with chemical weapons.
"I've stood on the bridge outside of Venezuela where the average adult has lost 24 pounds trying to cross over that bridge in the hot sun just to get to one meal they're going to have that day. That's evil. What we have are issues, but those aren't evil, they're just our opponents. It's just policy. And on our worst day, America has so much to be blessed for. Every one of us should feel blessed every single day.
"So like stop the finger-pointing and stop the fighting and let's get some things done, but remind everyone that we are blessed, be grateful about it and never stop using the power of your voice, because it matters. It really does matter," said Nikky Haley.