ADVERTISEMENT

Nikki Haley: Israel Bashing at UN Is 'Ridiculous'

April 6, 2017

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke at the Women in the World Summit on Wednesday in New York, where she denounced anti-Israel bias and said the debate about Israel and the Palestinians has become a "habit" among many U.N. leaders.

"Israel and the U.N. That's been a big topic that you've been discussing in the U.N. What's your thought on that?" MSNBC anchor and moderator Greta Van Susteren asked.

"You know I had heard how bad the Israel bashing was, but when I got there, it was really bizarre," Haley said. "Because what you saw was the fact that we would have this session the Middle East. This session happens every single month and has happened for the last ten years, and all they talk about is Israel and the Palestinians."

Haley then discussed her condemnation of a U.N. report last month that compared Israel to an apartheid state.

The report in question was titled "Israeli Practices Toward the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid," and was published early last month by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, the Associated Press reported.

Its authors concluded that "Israel has established an apartheid regime that systematically institutionalizes racial oppression and domination of the Palestinian people as a whole."

Rima Khalaf, a Jordanian who heads Beirut-based ESCWA and is a U.N. undersecretary-general, announced her resignation at a hastily called press conference in the Lebanese capital, saying she couldn't accept being subjected to pressure from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to withdraw the report.

She described the report as "the first of its kind," adding that it "concludes scientifically and according to international law that Israel has established an apartheid regime."

[...]

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement: "When someone issues a false and defamatory report in the name of the U.N., it is appropriate that the person resign. U.N. agencies must do a better job of eliminating false and biased work, and I applaud the secretary-general's decision to distance his good office from it."

"So I called the secretary general and I said, 'This is ridiculous. We cannot have this.' He agreed. He pulled the report down and the director resigned," Haley said.

"It's just a habit of Israel bashing because they can, and what we're saying is it needs to be fair. We have to start seeing some fairness there," she added.

Haley has been vocal during her short tenure as ambassador about the U.N.'s disproportionate criticism towards the Jewish state while ignoring  security threats in the Middle East.

"I'm here to emphasize the United States is determined to stand up to the U.N.'s anti-Israel bias," Haley said in February after her first Security Council meeting.