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Trump Nominee for U.N. Ambassador Supports Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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South Carolina Govenor Nikki Haley. Reuters


New York, Ramallah- South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley seconded criticism of the United Nations by the new U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and many of their fellow Republicans before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, especially for what she termed its “bias” against Israel.

At her Senate confirmation hearing, Haley slammed the Obama administration for allowing “mistreatment” of Israel in the halls of an organization with a long record of disproportionately targeting the Jewish state.

Some Republicans want to stop U.S. funding for the United Nations over a Security Council resolution last month demanding an end to settlement building that the United States declined to veto, instead of abstaining.

She called a resolution that passed through the Security Council last month condemning Israel’s settlement enterprise – facilitated by a U.S. abstention – “the ultimate low,” a “terrible mistake,” a “kick in the gut” and a message to the world that America’s commitments to its allies ring hollow.

Resolution 2334 suggested that “being an ally of the United States doesn’t mean anything,” Haley told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“It is an obsession that they have with Israel where they don’t have with North Korea, where they don’t have with Syria,” she said of the Security Council. “We have to look at the fact and call out the fact.”

Haley, 44 and daughter of Indian immigrants, was asked at her senate confirmation hearing if she supported Trump’s campaign trail promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.

“Absolutely,” Haley said. “And not only is that what Israel wants, but that is what this Congress has said that is what they support.”

Haley was also asked about her priorities if she gets the new job.

“I think that the biggest part is how we represent America going forward,” Haley said.

“We need to represent our country from a point of strength. We need to remind the rest of the world that we are the moral compass of the world, and we need to express our values as we go forward.”

If the U.S. embassy is moved to Jerusalem, it would break decades of U.S. policy and be at odds with the overwhelming majority of other nations, which believe the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiation.

On the other hand, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated during a press conference with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda that that peace for the Palestinians is “strategic.”

Abbas urged the international community on Wednesday not to waste the opportunity of implementing the two-state solution “because this year, it’s the last chance.”

Asked about Trump’s intentions to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Abbas said: “We heard about that, but officially we will wait to hear it when he takes office in the White House.”

“Such a measure, if taken, would certainly undermine the peace process, and is illegal of course. It would be the very first time a country moves its embassy to Jerusalem, while all other state embassies are in Tel Aviv.”