NIKKI HALEY: 'FINISH THEM'

Haley accuses Russia of helping Hamas on Oct. 7, tells Israel to 'finish' IRGC officials

The former Republican governor and presidential hopeful spoke with Israel Hayom after visiting the communities in southern Israel that came under attack on Oct. 7, showing her support for the Jewish state. In the interview, she slams the Biden administration for turning its back on Israel by withholding weapons, saying "the best thing America can do is let Israel do its job."

 

By Ariel Kahana  

 

Israel Hayom

May 28, 2024

 

Former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley signs artillery shells near the northern border of Israel on Tuesday, May 28, 2024. She wrote, "Finish them! America loves Israel!" on some of them.

 

 

Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN and one of the prominent voices on the American Right, says Israel should ignore the restrictions that President Joe Biden is imposing on it regarding the war in Gaza. Instead, in her view, the fighting should continue until Hamas is eliminated.

n an exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, as part of her first tour of the country since the outbreak of the war, Haley attacked Biden and said, "You can't hold back weapons from an ally. So if we want to be a friend to Israel, the best thing America can do is let Israel do its job and just support we shouldn't be preaching to Israel, we shouldn't be telling them how to win the war, we shouldn't tell them what they can or can't do. We should just be saying, what else do you need? Bottom line? That's it. That's what I want to see America do is be a friend, a true friend, and make sure all the other countries that are aligned with us are a true friend with Israel too."

Q: But the administration has not been doing that. Rather, it has been telling us what to do. For example, 'Don't enter Rafah, bring more and more humanitarian aid' – which goes to Hamas – and so on. What, then, should Israel do? Abide by what the administration says or choose the path of war as we see fit.

"Israel needs to tune out the noise and finish the job. We know that they have to go into Rafah. I know they have to go into Rafa because that's so much where the Hamas movement still is. For them not to go into Rafa is to lead the terrorists still in power. I also know that a lot of the aid that is going into Gaza is feeding Hamas, fueling Hamas using they're using it, and the Palestinians really aren't getting much of it. But this goes back to the fact that if the Palestinians want a better life, they need to get rid of Hamas. They need to change leadership; they need to understand that they are in this situation because of the leaders around them. This is not Israel's job to save the Palestinians, the Palestinians should want to save themselves by getting rid of the terrorists who are trying to control them who are using them as human shields."

 

Nikki Haley visits the Gaza-border communities affected by the Oct. 7 atrocities

 

Haley stressed that Israel must make sure to finish the job the lest Hamas resurges and do the same atrocities it committed on Oct. 7. "The best way to make sure it doesn't happen again is to do it right the first time. And we know that as long as Hamas exists, it can happen again. That's why I've said from the very beginning you need to finish them once and for all."

Haley recently announced she was dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, having surprised many by finishing second in the states she contested. In an interview with Israel Hayom, she addressed her political future and explained, among other things, why she will vote for Trump in November despite the harsh criticism she leveled against him on the stump. Additionally, she called for imposing American sanctions on the international courts at The Hague and demanded that the Biden administration use its veto to protect Israel at the UN. Haley emphasized that the US faces a threat from terrorism by extreme Islam and noted that the treatment of Israel is a test for the Western world.

"I want Israelis to know you're doing the right thing. Don't let anybody make you feel wrong because Israel is not wrong in this. There are a lot of countries in the world that are wrong because they're siding with the terrorists, and that needs to end. And we need to acknowledge the fact that the last thing Israel needs is for us to go stab them in the back when they when they're already down."

Her visit to the country was organized by MK Danny Danon, the former Israeli ambassador to the UN. The two have been close friends since serving together at the UN as representatives of their countries. The conversation with her was held in the office of the mayor of Sderot, Alon Davidi, who hosted her Tuesday in the city as part of a tour of the southern communities hit by the Oct. 7 terrorists.

In the interview, which will be published in full on Friday, the former governor made a serious allegation that Russia passed intelligence to Hamas. "I think that we know that Russian intelligence was involved in helping Iran and Hamas do what they did. And I think that's very important that people know that that this is, you know, Russia is trying to play both sides of the fence; they can't play both sides of the fence. Russian intelligence was used to learn about Israeli bases to learn what had happened, all of those things, they need to be held accountable for their part in this, they can deny it all they want. But the Russian intelligence was involved, Tomas wouldn't have had all the information. The second thing is that Russia was struggling with Ukraine. They'd lost 87% of their fighting forces that started the war, they raised the draft age to 65. They did not win it in five days like they thought they were going to do. And so they were getting weaker. And how is it that all of a sudden, you've got this happen on October 7? And what happened, the world's eyes turned from Russia and Ukraine, and started looking at Israel. It's the best birthday President Putin ever got. Because all of a sudden, it turned American, the West to now look at Israel."

During her tour of the south on Monday, Haley received security briefings from senior IDF officials. Later this week, she was set to meet with the country's leadership, including the prime minister and heads of security organizations. On Tuesday, she headed to the north, learning about the war there. The world should start exacting a heavy price from Iran since it is the one behind the attack and poses a great danger to America as well.

Q: Iran is very close to acquiring a bomb. Even during your time as ambassador to the UN, and in fact for many years – maybe two decades – US administrations have imposed sanctions on Iran, but these have not been enough. Isn't it time to stop Iran's nuclear program by military force simply because there is no other choice?

"First thing you have to do is where everything is not being done, that should be done. So, if Iranian sanctions were put on, why are they being followed. so much Iranian fuel is being sold to China. China's giving all of this money to Iran, Iran takes that money they give it to their proxies. Why aren't we enforcing the sanctions? The second thing is sanctions were lifted that need to come back down on Iran. So, certain sanctions have not been put back, and America needs to put those sanctions back on. What I saw at the United Nations and since then is that when Iran gets money, they don't give it to their people. They go and fuel their nuclear program. And then the rest of the world has to acknowledge what we've seen is that whenever you give Iran money, they continue to fuel terrorism. And they'll lie, and they'll cheat. And they'll steal, and they'll do whatever it takes, but they are going to continue to get closer and closer to a nuclear bomb. And they're very close to it now."

Q: But are sanctions enough? We have tried that for many years. 

"First, you have to follow the sanctions and enforce them. The second thing is I have said, I think that it's really important that we go after key IRGC members, and make them feel it, we have to start letting them feel what it's like to be weakened. And they haven't had that. I don't think we go into a full war in Iran. That's not what we're talking about. But we do need to send some messages. And that means uf you have to take out some key IRGC members..."

Q: Take out, as in killing them? 

 

"Finish them."