Ambassador Nikki Haley at AIPAC: Days of Israel-Bashing at UN Are Over, There Is a New Sheriff in Town
by Barney Breen-Portnoy
“The days of Israel-bashing are over,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley vowed on Monday. “For anyone who says you can’t get anything done at the UN, they need to know there is a new sheriff in town.”
Haley’s remarks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference were interrupted several times by enthusiastic standing ovations from the thousands-strong crowd at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
“I’m not there to play games and what I wanted to make sure of is that the United States started leading again,” Haley said of her UN role.
The Trump administration, Haley stated, is “putting everyone on notice” at the UN.
“I wear heels, it’s not for a fashion statement, it’s because if I see something wrong we’re gonna kick ’em every time,” she said.
Referring to the UN’s anti-Israel bias, Haley noted, “I knew they said it was bad, but until you hear it and you see it, you just can’t comprehend.”
Haley called the Obama administration’s abstention from the December 2016 UN Security Council vote on the anti-Israeli settlement Resolution 2334 “embarrassing” and “hurtful.”
“Everyone at the United Nations is scared to talk to me about Resolution 2334,” she said. “That happened, but it will never happen again.”
The former South Carolina governor pledged there would be “no more freebies” for the Palestinian Authority until it returned to the negotiating table.
The ambassador also criticized the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying all it did was “empower” the Tehran regime. “Why that was ever passed is beyond me,” she added.
Watch Haley’s AIPAC appearance below: