ANKARA

Nikki Haley, former US envoy to the UN and former candidate for the US 2024 presidential elections, has again drawn attention with her political support and closeness to Israel, which continues its attacks on Gaza.

Haley, who withdrew from the presidential election race because she could not get enough support, came to the spotlight again as she wrote “Finish Them” on an artillery shell during her visit to northern Israel.

Standing out with her intense support for Israel, she called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “Finish Them,” referring to Palestinians, in her Instagram post the day after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

Haley was on the agenda with her statements revealing her unconditional support to Israel during her term as the governor of the US State of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the US ambassador to the UN from 2017 to 2018.

In 2015, as governor of South Carolina, Haley signed a bill to stop the activities of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement.

The BDS Movement, which seeks to isolate the Israeli regime academically, culturally, politically and, to some extent, economically, is seen by the Israeli government and its supporters as one of the “greatest strategic threats”.

While the bill Haley signed does not directly mention Israel, it prevents public entities from signing contracts with businesses that boycott an organization or individual with whom they do business under South Carolina's open trade law.

With Haley's signature, South Carolina became the first state in the country to enact such a measure into law.

Then-Governor Haley said she was proud of the BDS legislation and it was her “privilege” to have signed it.

Unconditional support for Israel at UN

Haley, a former US permanent representative to the UN, received a standing ovation when she pledged to stand with Israel against the BDS movement at an event titled “Ambassadors Against BDS” at the UN General Assembly Hall.

Speaking at the event, Haley stressed the US support for Israel.

In December 2016, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution condemning all illegal Israeli settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Following the adoption of the resolution, Haley, then the US permanent representative to the UN, spoke by phone with Danny Danon, then Israel's permanent representative to the UN, in January 2017.

Haley apologized to Danon for the resolution of condemnation passed at the council and criticized the decision of then-US President Barack Obama's government not to veto the resolution.

Following this phone call, Haley continued to defend Israel during her nearly two years as UN representative.

After UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to the Security Council in February 2017 indicating that he was considering appointing former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as special envoy for Libya, the council considered the appointment.

Haley opposed Guterres' nominee Fayyad, saying that her government “was disappointed” to learn that Guterres planned to appoint Fayyad as the special representative.

“For too long, the UN has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel,” Haley added.

During her term, she walked out of a council meeting during a Palestinian official’s speech and criticized in some of her statements the UN’s Palestinian refugee aid program, which she has since said “uses American money to feed Palestinian hatred of the Jewish state.”

Haley's defense of Israel throughout her tenure as the US envoy to the UN led to public comments at the time that “Israel now has two representatives.”

Haley had the “advantage” of the support of Jewish donors over her rival Donald Trump before she withdrew from the race, The Times of Israel reported in January.

People familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity, said that Republican donors, the majority of whom are Jewish, did not want to support Trump and were looking for the “most suitable” candidate.

Accordingly, former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, known for her support for Israel, met the Jewish donors' criteria.

Haley's donors include Jewish billionaires

Fred Zeidman, a board member of the Coalition of Republican Jews and one of Haley's leading donors, said he supported Haley because of her pro-Israel stance.

According to Forbes, Haley's donors included Jewish billionaires.

Haley, who was born in South Carolina to a Sikh Indian family, argued in a 2017 speech at a conference of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee that the cultures of India and Israel are “similar”.

“The truth is, I have seen so many similarities between the Israeli culture and the Indian culture,” she said.

"We're very close-knit," she added.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,240 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and 81,777 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel