Nikki Haley calms fears on Trump plan: ‘Israel should not be worried’

Haley sent a message to Israel not to be concerned that Trump’s deal of the century would compromise its security.

By David Isaac, World Israel News

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said “Israel should not be worried” by the Trump administration’s peace plan. She made her comments in an interview with Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth on Thursday.

“Israel should not be worried. Because through the Middle East plan, one of the main goals that Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt focused on was to not hurt the national security interests of Israel,” Haley said in the interview with Israel’s largest daily newspaper.

Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is serving as Trump’s special adviser. Greenblatt is serving as Trump’s chief negotiator on Israel-Palestinian peace issues. His official title is U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations.

“They understand the importance of security, they understand the importance of keeping Israel safe. I think everybody needs to go into it with an open mind, everybody should want a peace plan,” Haley said.

Asked if Mideast peace had a chance, Haley said: “I am an optimist. It’s not going to be easy. Both sides won’t love it. And both sides won’t hate it. But both sides have to want peace. And if they do, they will be deciding the details.”

Haley, however, directed criticism at the Palestinian and Arab side. “At this point, it is hard to see an opportunity in which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is even going to come to the table, and I think that … it shows Abbas’ true colors.

“It shows the Arab community’s true colors, that they [the Arab states] don’t really care about the Palestinians, because if the Palestinians were that much of a priority, everybody would be holding Abbas’ hand and leading him to the table. Everybody and Abbas himself would want better.”

Haley became extremely popular with Israel supporters during her term as U.N. ambassador, a position she filled for almost two full years starting January 25, 2017. The former governor of South Carolina made a name for herself by calling out U.N. hypocrisy when it came to Israel.

One of her first acts was to get a March, 2017 report accusing Israel of apartheid pulled from the U.N.’s website. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres complied. “Guterres, no doubt wary of getting off to a wrong start with the Trump administration, pulled rank on the agency and the report was soon gone,” JTA’s Ron Kampeas reported.

“That such anti-Israel propaganda would come from a body whose membership nearly universally does not recognize Israel is unsurprising,” Haley said before the report was pulled down.

Among her other accomplishments was helping lead the Trump administration’s move to cut funding to UNRWA, which provided financial assistance to Palestinians but defined refugees too broadly in the eyes of the administration.

In December, 2017, she nipped in the bud a U.N. Security Council Resolution seeking to condemn Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. “The U.S. will not be told by any country where we can put our Embassy,” she said. “What we witnessed here today in the Security Council is an insult. It won’t be forgotten.”

arab-israeli conflictNikki HaleyUS-Israel relations