Ex-US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley Blasts Biden for Supporting Two-State Solution in Middle East

Speculation had emerged that Democrats under Biden would pursue a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after former president Donald Trump promoted his peace plan that significantly favored Israelis over Palestinians. Nevertheless, Washington has reiterated that the US is ”committed to Israel’s security.”

Ex-Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has lambasted the pro-Israeli lobbying group AIPAC and the Biden administration for policies she deems anti-Israeli.

During her speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference in Las Vegas, Haley accused AIPAC of hosting US lawmakers who support the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which ex-president Trump unilaterally ditched in 2018 while slamming Tehran with harsh sanctions.

“There’s one thing I don’t get about AIPAC, and I’m not saying anything to you that I haven’t said to their leadership: why do they invite politicians to their conference who strongly support the Iran nuclear deal?” she wondered to the applause of the crowd. “Stop rewarding bad behavior. It only gets you more bad behavior.”

“If Israel makes the grave decision that its security depends on removing that threat, it should not wait for an American green light that might never come,” Haley tweeted, though it's not clear if she indeed was suggesting possible military action against Tehran, especially given the $1.5 billion defense budget Israel has approved recently and which reportedly includes a possible strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Tensions between the two countries have been high as ever, as Iran has signalled its willingness to continue the Vienna talks on a possible revival of the JCPOA.

’Please Remember Who You're Dealing With,’ Haley Says

In her rant, the ex-diplomat also slammed the Biden administration for renewing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians “and promoting a two-state solution.”

“Look, we can all have a nice academic debate about the merits of an independent Palestinian state. In theory, it could be a good thing. Lord knows the Palestinian people have suffered too much,” Haley said. “But let’s be real. There is no universe today under which the corrupt Palestinian Authority can run a state. There isn’t,” she asserted, adding that Hamas in Gaza is even worse.

She also criticized US politicians ”embraced by antisemites” who have opposed moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, while also taking aim at the BDS movement in America.

“If a politician supports the disastrous Iran deal, opposes moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, and is embraced by antisemites who support the BDS movement, then a pro-Israel group should have absolutely nothing to do with him or her,” she added.

Back in 2017, Trump announced the US recognition of Jerusalem as the ”undivided capital of Israel”, triggering a massive backlash from Palestinians and Arab states. Jerusalem, which is held sacred by followers of three major world religions, is partially occupied by Israel, along with other territories of the West Bank. The United Nations have stressed that Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law and prevent achieving peace in the region under the principle of the two-state solution to the conflict.

Haley was serving in her post at the UN when Trump pulled the US out of the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 (Washington has now returned to the UNHRC). Back then, Haley claimed that the Council was a hypocritical organization that criticized Israel while providing membership to countries that, as Washington claims, are gross violators of human rights — such as Venezuela, China, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After she left her post, ex-Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu praised her for leading ”the uncompromising struggle against hypocrisy at the UN, and on behalf of the truth and justice of our country.”