WASHINGTON—“When I come to AIPAC, I am with friends. In the United Nations, we sometimes don’t have many friends,” said Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, in her address to the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel group in the U.S.
“In the real world, Israel is a strong country with a strong military,” she said to a raucous crowd that repeatedly gave her standing ovations. “But at the U.N., it’s a different story. Israel does get bullied there. It gets bullied because the countries that don’t like Israel get away with it. That just doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Some people accuse us of favoritism towards Israel,” she said. “There’s nothing wrong with showing favoritism towards an ally, that’s what being an ally is all about. But 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.”
Occasionally heckled by audience members shouting “We love you!” Haley clearly warmed to her audience, telling the AIPAC crowd that standing up for Israel at the UN reminded her of her experiences as the child of Indian immigrant parents who was bullied at school. “Just like when I was that little girl in South Carolina, that doesn’t sit well with me,” she said to applause.
Haley’s remarks on Jerusalem were arguably the most enthusiastically-received of her speech, “America did not make Jerusalem Israel’s capital,” she said. “President Trump recognized a reality that American Presidents denied for too long.”
Haley explained that her approach at the UN “is tied by one major idea: that Israel must be treated like any other normal country.”
In his speech, U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence took a more measured tone, drawing on many of the same themes he discussed in his address to the Israeli Knesset in January, including the Iranian threat and the recognition of Jerusalem.
“Dangerous provocations will not go unchecked by Israel, America, or our allies,” Pence said regarding Iran’s aggression in the Middle East. “We will not allow the defeat of ISIS to become a victory for Iran,” he said, promising that the U.S. “will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”
“Unless the Iran nuclear deal is fixed in the coming months, the United States will withdraw from the deal immediately.”