Newly seated U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley pretty much tore up the Security Council while delivering recent remarks, ripping into members for their blatant and biased anti-Israel views and putting them on notice that the America under President Donald Trump won’t stand for such rhetoric.
Haley made the comments after emerging from her first regular meeting of the Security Council, which gathers monthly.
She opened by asking the members to respect her views, and assuring that she would display a similar courtesy for theirs.
Then she said this, on the meeting she just attended: “I have to admit, it was a bit strange.”
She was speaking of the Security Council’s discussions, which she had thought were going to focus on international security, Iran’s nuclear development, terrorism from ISIS, Syria’s Bashar Assad and his murderous acts against his own people – topics she said were proper for the global body to consider.
“Instead,” Haley said, “the meeting focused on criticizing Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East.”
Then came the warning.
“I’m here to say the United States will not turn a blind eye to this anymore,” she said. “I’m here to underscore the ironclad support of the United States for Israel.”
From there, she brought up the “breathtaking” biases of the Security Council.
“Incredibly,” Haley said, “the U.N. Department of Political Affairs has an entire department devoted to Palestinian affairs. Imagine that. There is not a division devoted to illegal missile launches from North Korea. These is no division devoted to the worlds’ number on state sponsor of terror, Iran.”
The blunt talk is certainly a deviation from the Barack Obama administration. And Haley even raised the specter of the previous administration while calling out one of Obama’s final actions against Israel, which was to sit back and refuse to vote against a U.N. resolution that called for a halt of Israel’s settlement builds.
The failure of America to participate in this historic slap to Israel’s face was the seal to the deal’s passage. America could have vetoed, but under Obama, did not.
Haley spoke bluntly of the resolution.
“We will never repeat the terrible mistake of Resoluion 2334 and allow one-sided security council resolutions to condemn Israel. Instead, we will push for action on the real threats we face in the Middle East.”
