United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the demonstrated anti-Israel bias at the UN was her “biggest surprise” upon taking the post in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
“They’re not talking about Syria, they’re not talking about Iran,” Haley said of the monthly Security Council meetings devoted to the Middle East. “Every single month for ten years they’ve been Israel-bashing.”
“And that was something I just couldn’t believe that they put the time and energy into doing when we have so many threats around the world,” she continued.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon commended Haley’s efforts to hold the body accountable for its anti-Israel bias. Praising Haley as “great,” Danon said she “comes with her values, with the tools” that are necessary to “beat the UN back to its core values.” The UN, Danon said, “is a good institution but it was kidnapped by evil forces.” Danon believes that by working with Haley, they might be able to get the UN “back to where it should be.”
Haley said that she noticed a change at the UN, saying that “the tone is getting better” because people are realizing “we do have more important things to do,” and also that “they’re tired of me yelling at them about Israel-bashing.”
In one of her earliest statements after becoming ambassador, Haley described her first Security Council session on the Middle East, observing, “the meeting focused on criticizing Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East” and announced that the U.S. “will not turn a blind eye to this anymore.”
Haley reinforced her stance last week and told an estimated 18,000 attendees at American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual gathering that “the days of Israel-bashing are over” to thunderous applause.
Later in the week, Haley was a featured speaker at an event sponsored by Israel’s Mission to the UN, the World Jewish Congress, Ambassadors Against BDS, and other organizations. She said that efforts to isolate Israel by boycotts bear “no connection to any reasonable definition of justice.”
Haley also highlighted a film about Holocaust survivors as “a journey toward truth,” and contrasted it with the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, stating, “The effort to delegitimize Israel that travels under the name BDS is something very different.” She characterized BDS as “a movement away from truth and away from history.”
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