Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley visited the city of Sderot in southern Israel today (Monday) during her solidarity trip to Israel as the guest of MK Danny Danon.
Haley stated that she would not criticize the current Democratic administration while in Israel. "I think it is very important to never talk negatively about an American president when you're on foreign soil. So this is not going to be a time where I'm gonna say anything negative about the president. What I will tell you is what America should do."
"What America needs to understand is, when Israel's fighting our enemies, how can we not help them? The sure way to not help Israel is to withhold weapons. The sure way to not help Israel is to praise the ICC or the ICJ or any of those that are condemning Israel instead of condemning what happened," she said.
According to Haley, "America needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war. Until you've lived it, you can't say how to fight it. You're either a friend or you're not a friend. Israel doesn't need us to tell them what to do. They've got a good fighting force. They're going through enough. The last thing they need is pressure from their friends."
"If there's anything I've known over the years, [it's that] Israel values human life just as much as America does, just as much. And what they are having to do now is surgical, to go in there and make sure they eliminate Hamas," she said. "They need to finish Hamas. Don't stop until they finish. But also make sure that security is intact so that it never never happens again from Hamas or anybody else."
Addressing her relationship with former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose Administration she served under, Haley said, "We had a strong America. That was the goal. The goal was to make sure we knew who our friends were and we knew who our enemies were."
"I think the reason that he and I worked together well during that time was because he let me do my job, which was to call out our enemies, but we never forgot our friends, which is why we stood with Israel. All you have to do is look at the fact that he moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and acknowledged the truth. He allowed me to defund UNRWA," she noted.
"He allowed for strong foreign policy," she said of Trump. "I hope, in his next Administration, that he remembers who his friends are, who his enemies are, and don't let that waver, because that's what's important."
The former ambassador also addressed the foreign influence on American politics and American universities which have seen an explosion of anti-Israel protests in recent months.
"We need to get all foreign money out of our college campuses because they've been doing this for years. So it was no surprise there were suddenly protests on college campuses, because they've been told over and over again certain things that aren't true," she said.
"I know it's controversial to say it, but I've also spoken hard truths. It was not just Hamas that did these murders. It was not just Hamas that did all of these atrocities. [Normal] Palestinians came over and contributed and were a part of this," she noted. "Palestinians came over and took hostages and robbed these homes and did things. And that needs to be told."
"It's not the Israelis or the Jewish people we should be condemning. We need to be condemning Iran, Russia, who gave the intelligence, and China, who's funding it. Those are the ones you need to be mad at, and don't disregard the Palestinian citizens who took part in the brutal deaths of so many Israelis," she said.