VIDEO: Nikki Haley defends America and Israel over Jerusalem at UN Security Council
“The United States no longer stands by when Israel is unfairly attacked in the United Nations.”
Nikki Haley certainly has raised her public profile as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and with good reason. Haley has become a very effective public face of Trump’s U.S. diplomacy, in many ways overshadowing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at least in terms of public exposure.
What this means in terms of Haley’s political future is uncertain. But with Governor and UN Ambassador on her resume, and being in front of the cameras as much as she is, it has to make her a contender for either higher national office (Secretary of State?) or VP nominee at some point in the future. I don’t think she yet has what it would take politically to mount a presidential campaign, but who knows in 2024.
From the beginning of her service, Haley has attacked the UN’s profound bias against Israel.
Haley’s public skills were revealed again as she delivered a speech on December 8, 2017, during an Emergency Meeting of the UN Security Council called in reaction to Trump’s speech recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The speech was notable for the clear reference to the Obama administration’s prior decision to allow an anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution in the closing weeks of Obama’s presidency. Haley made clear those days were over.
“Finally, I will not let this moment pass without a comment about the United Nations itself. Over many years, the United Nations has outrageously been [one] of the world’s foremost centers of hostility towards Israel.
The UN has done much more to damage the prospects for Middle East peace than to advance them. We will not be a party to that. The United States no longer stands by when Israel is unfairly attacked in the United Nations. And the United States will not be lectured to by countries that lack any credibility when it comes to treating both Israelis and Palestinians fairly.”
I’ve prepared this video of the highlights of her speech:
Here is the text of her full speech:
Thank you, Mr. President.
The Jewish people are a patient people. Throughout three thousand years of civilization, foreign conquest, exile, and return, Jerusalem has remained their spiritual home. For nearly 70 years, the city of Jerusalem has been the capital of the State of Israel, despite many attempts by others to deny that reality.
The American people are less patient. In 1948, the United States was the first nation to recognize the independent state of Israel. In 1995, the U.S. Congress declared that Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of Israel, and that the U.S. Embassy should be located in Jerusalem.
Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama all agreed with that position, but they did not act. They delayed, in the hopes that a peace process would produce results – results that never came.
For 22 years, the American people have overwhelmingly supported that position, and they have waited . . . and waited. This week, President Trump finally made the decision to no longer deny the will of the American people.
It’s important to be clear about exactly what the President’s decision does. The President has announced that the United States recognizes the obvious – that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. He has also instructed the State Department to begin the process of relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That is what the President has done.
And this is what he has not done: The United States has not taken a position on boundaries or borders. The specific dimensions of sovereignty over Jerusalem are still to be decided by the Israelis and the Palestinians in negotiations. The United States has not advocated changing any of the arrangements at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. The President specifically called for maintaining the status quo at the holy sites.
Finally, and critically, the United States is not predetermining final status issues. We remain committed to achieving a lasting peace agreement. We support a two-state solution if agreed to by the parties.
Those are the facts of what was said and done this week. Now, there are a few more points that are central to the discussion of this issue.
Israel, like all nations, has the right to determine its capital city. Jerusalem is the home of Israel’s parliament, president, prime minister, Supreme Court, and many of its ministries.
It is simple common sense that foreign embassies be located there. In virtually every country in the world, U.S. embassies are located in the host country’s capital city. Israel should be no different.
The United States took this step in full knowledge that it will raise questions and concerns. Our actions are intended to help advance the cause of peace. We must recognize that peace is advanced, not set back, when all parties are honest with each other. Our actions reflected an honest assessment of reality.
I understand the concern members have in calling this session. Change is hard. But we should never doubt what the truth can do. We should never doubt that when we face the truth, believe in the human spirit, and encourage each other, that peace can happen.
To those who have good faith concerns about the future of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, let me again assure you that the President and this administration remain committed to the peace process.
To those who do not act in good faith – to any person, leader, country, or terrorist group that uses this week’s decision as a pretext for violence – you are only showing yourselves to be unfit partners of peace.
Finally, I will not let this moment pass without a comment about the United Nations itself. Over many years, the United Nations has outrageously been [one] of the world’s foremost centers of hostility towards Israel.
The UN has done much more to damage the prospects for Middle East peace than to advance them. We will not be a party to that. The United States no longer stands by when Israel is unfairly attacked in the United Nations. And the United States will not be lectured to by countries that lack any credibility when it comes to treating both Israelis and Palestinians fairly.
It is no coincidence that the historic peace agreements between Egypt and Israel, and between Jordan and Israel, were both signed on the White House lawn. If and when there is a historic peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, there’s a good likelihood that it, too, will be signed on the White House lawn.
Why is that? It’s because the United States has credibility with both sides. Israel will never be, and should never be, bullied into an agreement by the United Nations, or by any collection of countries that have proven their disregard for Israel’s security.
To my Palestinian brothers and sisters, I can tell you with complete confidence that the United States is deeply committed to achieving a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. We have demonstrated that commitment over many years and with the investment of large quantities of financial resources and diplomatic energy.
Sadly, peace between the two sides has not been achieved, but we will not give up. Our hand remains extended to you. We are more committed to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace today than we’ve ever been before. And we believe we might be closer to that goal than ever before.
Both Israelis and Palestinians have very real stories to tell. Painful stories of challenges, distrust, and destruction. But this conflict is not just about the past. It must not be about all of those painful stories. It must be about future generations. Palestinian and Israeli children both deserve a future of peace, one no more and no less than the other.
When those children are grown, they should look back and look to this time when the parties genuinely negotiated for their sake. These Palestinian and Israeli children deserve to have hope of a brighter and more peaceful future.
Our wish and prayer is that this is the time both sides stop thinking about present needs and start thinking about future generations. I urge all countries in the Security Council and in the Middle East to temper their statements and their actions in the days ahead.
Peace remains achievable. We must all do our parts to achieve it.
Thank you.
Full speech video:
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Comments
“The Czech Republic has long been Israel’s strongest supporter in Europe, and it is no surprise that Prague was the first to follow President Trump in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”
Nikki Haley for President! If Trump was half as eloquent as she is, the Liberal Loonies would have a much tougher time trying to get their coup off the ground.
Haley really did not like Trump at one time. She has now becomes Trumps chief Foriegn Policy enactor. I don’t think they even need to consult each other. She does her thing. Trump applauds before the Swamp can react.
I wasn’t sure about her appointment as UN Ambassador because of her outright animus toward the President but I’m loving her now! Fearless, outspoken, and a defender of the America I used to know. Go Ambassador Haley!
The UN has done much more to damage the prospects for Middle East peace than to advance them.
Oh, noes! Nikki Haley is bullying the UN!
I dunno, the UN might get ticked off at the way Nikki Haley treats them, and move the UN headquarters out of the US?
Wouldn’t that be a shame.
get the U-Haul ready.;-)
Here’s a joke for you. A $100 bill lies in the intersection of a crossroads. The Easter Bunny is hopping toward the intersection on one road, a moderate Muslim is walking toward it on another, the Arab-Israeli peace process on the third, and an Islamic terrorist on the fourth. Who gets the $100 bill?
Answer: The Islamic terrorist of course. All the others are entirely imaginary creations.
It insane to believe in something called the Arab-Israeli peace process. The West’s decades long devotion to this delusion has simply convinced the Arab residents of Gaza, Judea, and Samaria of to things. That time is on their side, and that when they routinely violate established international law the West will invent new, imaginary international law to accommodate their barbarity. Every rocket fired from Hamas-controlled Gaza is a war crime. Their use of children as human shields, by forcing families to remain in buildings they know the Israelis will target because it’s been converted to military use (and thus a legitimate military target, having been converted into one by a criminal act on the part of Hamas) because IDF has WARNED THE RESIDENTS to get out, or by using UNRWA schools as weapons depots are war crimes. I could go on. But the Jew hating international bodies will not hold the Arab war criminals accountable. But the Jew hating international bodies, the Arab war criminals have discovered, will make up new, imaginary rules to concoct war crimes charges against the IDF and Israeli government officials.
In the past the Arab war criminals avoided bodies like the ICC because they knew by black letter law, such as the LOAC, it was they and not the Israelis who were committing the war crimes. But having discovered that they’re like the Clintons, i.e. there’s nothing they can do no matter how heinous that can lead to criminal charges, that’s changed in recent years.
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1231/Palestinians-to-charge-Israel-with-war-crimes-Netanyahu-vows-retaliatory-steps
Then there’s the legal myth that Gaza, Judea, and Samaria are “occupied territories.” Tell me, what sovereign state did those territories ever belong to? The correct legal status of those territories is “disputed,” not occupied. And despite the firmly established legal principle that should a state, if attacked by an unprovoked aggressor, seize territory from the aggressor then that territory is the aggrieved state’s by right of conquest. If you don’t believe me, show me Konigsberg on a map of modern Europe.
But this is denied the Jews for no reason whatsoever except that there must be different rules for Jews. So now it’s the entirely untenable position of the international cabal of Jew haters that Israel must hold those territories in trust for perpetuity and therefore any development is “illegal.” And the Arabs have just as much right to Jerusalem as the Israelis. In fact, more.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/10/25/un-claims-jews-no-significant-ties-jerusalem/
Can someone tell me where the Quran is on the Arch of Titus in Rome commemorating his triumph after besieging and sacking Jerusalem in 70 A.D. (that was the work of my people as far as I know; I don’t know if I descend from actual Romans or their slaves working the latifundia in Campania)? All I see is a menorah. And, yes, I know Islam wasn’t invented for another six centuries but as long as we’re rewriting history why should the Arabs and the UN have all the fun?
So the bottom line is having been convinced that everything the Arabs lost in every war they ever fought against Israel will forever be illegally be denied to Israel, all that has done is convince them they don’t need to make any concessions. the “international community” will in its insanity keep blaming Israel for not making enough concessions to the Arabs to strike a deal. While ignoring the fact that the only concession the PLO and Hamas are interested in is Israel agreeing it has no right to exist.
Hence the outrage over Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move our embassy there. It may be the first hint to the Arabs that time isn’t on their side. Maybe, perhaps, the Trump administration will abandon the “peace process” and “two state solution” delusions. We’ll see.
Very nice, but the State Department still insists there is no change to its policy of refusing to list Israel as the country of birth in the US passports of people born in Jerusalem. In other words, the US may have finally ceasing its childish pretense that the Israeli government is located in a city where it has never been, but it still claims that no part of Jerusalem is actually in Israel.
Good point. And one likely not on Trump’s radar. That policy is a State Department swamp icon. A classic Ivy League chess play that means nothing in the real world, but which drew rounds of toasts in affected cultured accent and back slaps when declared.
I suspect it needs to be brought to Trump’s attention.
That childish policy brought to you by the same idiots who insist that the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is in a state of war with the United States and where congregants shout “Death to America (and Israel), is our natural ally.
Unfortunately Tillerson seems to share some of the same mental disorders as the careerists at Foggy Bottom. Not all, but some. So he may not have the required amount of contempt for these people necessary to do a thorough job of cleaning house.
Maybe Trump should hire me as SecState. As a Naval Intelligence officer I have nothing but contempt for them. Yes, Hillary Clinton’s private server took the DoS’s utter disregard for national security to a new level. But I can tell you that the DoS has been a national security threat since long before I joined the Navy in the late ’80s. Sharing classified information with them was pretty much a guarantee you’d see your product in the NYT or WaPo in short order.
Former Naval intelligence officer. I retired 10 years ago, but I retain all of my contempt for most people (there are some good ones, mostly the USMC embassy guards [an attempt at humor, but not by much as I’m half serious] and the DSS types, with a very few others scattered about here and there) who work at DoS.
But, come to think of it I also have contempt for most of the people who work at CIA but for different reasons. Think of useless bimbos (female and male) such as Valerie Plame. Who, fittingly, is married to an ambassador (and not the good kind built by American Motors Corp. back in the early ’70s). So, maybe I’d make an equally good DCI. I’d show up early for my first day of work at Langley driving a bulldozer and go to town, then that afternoon drive over to Foggy Bottom and do the same.
I am pretty sure that I was the first to endorse Nikki Haley for President. I saw her in action twice as Governor of South Carolina and was tremendously impressed. When the 16 candidate free-for-all went live in 2016 I was disgusted with almost all of my choices and put a self-made sticker on my car “Haley for President”. I can’t tell you how many folks saw it and asked me who that was. I was overjoyed to explain.