Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was greeted as a rock star and brought the crowd to its feet 12 times and received a standing ovation totally 10 minutes as she recounted her record at the U.N. “When I come to AIPAC, I am with friends,” she started off. “In the United Nations, we sometimes don’t have many friends.” The crowd treated her more like a valued member of the family rather than a mere friend.
10 minute standing ovation for Nikki Haley at @AIPAC conference. “My father wore a Turban and my mother wore a Sari, I stood up to bullying then, and I will stand up to bullying Israel at the UN” pic.twitter.com/i8wpwyZo3z
— Dan Adler (@danadler) March 6, 2018
Unlike the previous administration, which declined to veto a vehemently anti-Israel resolution as it headed for the exits, Haley proudly recalled that she had promised Israel that this sort of thing would never happen again — and it hasn’t.
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She railed at the U.N., UNESCO in particular, for its obsessive and unfair bullying of the Jewish state. She recalled, “Some of you might have seen that the top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, recently had some advice for me. He told me to shut up. Mr. Erekat, I will always be respectful, but I will never shut up.” The crowd roared in approval.
She embraced the notion the accusation that the United States shows favoritism toward Israel. “There’s nothing wrong with showing favoritism towards an ally; that’s what being an ally is all about,” she said. However, she explained that “in all that we’re doing, our approach on Israel is tied to one major idea — the simple concept that Israel must be treated like any other normal country.” That, too, drew robust applause, since a major focus of AIPAC has been to halt the international effort to delegitimize the Jewish state. She said that U.N. votes should never be the only factor in foreign aid, but noted that the administration was “determined to start making that connection.”
Thank you AIPAC for the friendship and support. Fun time tonight! pic.twitter.com/Iv15dqFkcH
— Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) March 6, 2018
She also vigorously defended the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. “It cannot be the case that only one country in the world doesn’t get to choose its capital city,” she said. She promised to be there when the new embassy opens in May.
The Washington Post, Twitter and Youtube contributed to this article.
