UN Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters on Monday that the United Nations was wrong in its longstanding bias against Israel. In a blistering critique of the international organization, Haley said the United States would always have Israel’s back, even if it meant splitting with the rest of the Security Council.
“The Security Council just finished its regular monthly meeting on Middle East issues. It’s the first meeting like that that I’ve attended, and I have to say it was a bit strange,” Haley said.
“The Security Council is supposed to discuss how to maintain international peace and security,” she continued. “But at our meeting on the Middle East, the discussion was not about Hezbollah’s illegal build-up of rockets in Lebanon. It was not about the money and weapons Iran provides to terrorists. It was not about how we defeat ISIS. It was not about how we hold Bashar al-Assad accountable for the slaughter of hundreds and thousands of civilians.
“No, instead, the meeting focused on criticizing Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East,” she said. “I am new around here, but I understand that’s how the Council has operated, month after month, for decades.”
Indeed, the UN has spent years treating Islamic dictatorships as though they are morally and culturally superior to Israel. And that bias reached a fever pitch in the final month of Barack Obama’s presidency, when he authorized the U.S. ambassador to abstain from a resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
Haley said there would be no such American support for a resolution of that nature as long as she was the ambassador.
“I am here to underscore the ironclad support of the United States for Israel. I’m here to emphasize the United States is determined to stand up to the UN’s anti-Israel bias,” she said. “We will never repeat the terrible mistake of Resolution 2334 and allow one-sided Security Council resolutions to condemn Israel.”
While not surprising, Haley’s comments reinforce President Trump’s vow to improve relations with Israel after Obama’s petulant feud with Benjamin Netanyahu. They may also signal a willingness on the part of this administration to defund certain UN initiatives that are lead by anti-Israel forces within the organization. Certainly, some Republicans – including Sen. Ted Cruz – would love to see the U.S. punish the United Nations in this way.
After eight years of conceding moral authority to an organization filled with dictators and rogue nations, the U.S. is ready to lead once again.
