Benjamin Netanyahu Praises Nikki Haley for ‘Standing Up’ at UN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for telling the “truth” about Israel at the world body.
“Thank you for all your help and standing up for Israel, standing up for the truth, which is standing up for America,” Netanyahu told Haley Wednesday during her first visit to Israel as U.N. ambassador.
“President Trump and you I think have changed the discourse … I think it makes a world of difference, both for Israel and the U.S.,” added Netanyahu.
Haley responded, “You know that’s all I’ve done is tell the truth.”
“The U.N. was being such a bully to Israel, because they could. We’re starting to see a turn in New York (home to the U.N.’s headquarters) …They sense that the tone has changed,” she said.
The former South Carolina governor also told Netanyahu that she has discussed U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Agenda Item Seven—which mandates the council discuss alleged Israeli human rights abuses at every session—with fellow ambassadors in Geneva. She said many envoys are “embarrassed” by Agenda Item Seven and acknowledge it “makes no sense.” Israel is the only country in the world to be singled out with a permanent UNHRC agenda item.
A day before arriving in Israel, Haley attended the opening of the UNHRC’s 35th session in Geneva, where she criticized the organization for its “chronic anti-Israel bias.”
Before traveling to Geneva and Israel, Haley published an op-ed in The Washington Post demanding the UNHRC “end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism.”
See the meeting in the video clip above. {eoa}
This article was originally published at JNS.org. Used with permission.