Nikki Haley cites Trump’s Israel policies in Republican convention speech

Former US envoy to UN, seen as strong candidate for 2024, slams Obama-Biden administration for ‘denouncing’ Jewish state by failing to veto UN condemnation of settlements

By Ron Kampeas 25 August 2020, 5:07 pm

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Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks during the first day of the Republican convention at the Mellon auditorium in Washington, DC on August 24, 2020. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, highlighted US President Donald Trump’s Israel policies on Monday to make the case he has advanced a robust foreign policy.

Haley depicted Joe Biden, the former vice president, and former president Barack Obama as practicing a foreign policy of “weakness,” including their administration’s dealings with Iran.

“Obama and Biden let Iran get away with murder and literally sent them a plane full of cash,” Haley said. “President Trump did the right thing and ripped up the Iran nuclear deal.

“Obama and Biden led the United Nations to denounce our friend and ally Israel,” she said, referring to the Obama administration in its final days allowing through a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s West Bank settlements.

Obama administration alumni say they were not involved in initiating the resolution and worked to temper it. The Obama administration did not vote for the resolution, but withheld the US veto allowing it to pass.

Then-US president Barack Obama, accompanied by then-vice president Joe Biden, walks back to the Oval Office in Washington, after speaking about the election in the Rose Garden, on November 9, 2016. (AP Photo/ Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

“President Trump moved our embassy to Jerusalem – and when the UN tried to condemn us, I was proud to cast the American veto,” she said.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, is seen as a leading contender for the GOP nomination in 2024. Following her stint at the UN, she has become popular on the centrist and right-wing pro-Israel speaker’s circuit.