“If this president signs any [Iran nuclear] deal, I promise you: The next president will shred it on her first day in office,” Haley said.
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley hinted 2022 that she will run for the 2024 US presidential election during a speech she delivered late Monday night at the 17th annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Summit in Washington.
“If this president signs any [Iran nuclear] deal, I’ll make you a promise: The next president will shred it on her first day in office,” Haley said at the end of her speech at the A Night to Honor Israel event. “I’m just saying, sometimes it takes a woman,” she told the cheering crowd.
No deal with Iran
“If it ever looks like Iran is getting a nuclear weapon, we have to act, and we have to act quickly and decisively,” Haley said. “Our national security depends on keeping the bomb from Iran, and if America doesn’t, then Israel has to, and we should help it. At a minimum, we should give Israel everything it needs to defend and destroy Iran’s nuclear program.” “
Haley criticized the administration of US President Joe Biden for its efforts to negotiate with Iran and reach a compromise with the regime in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“Because of America’s weakness, Iran is in the strongest position it’s ever been in. Everyone knows what Iran wants. It wants nuclear weapons, it wants ballistic missiles to carry those nuclear weapons, and it wants to use those missiles and nukes to destroy Israel.” and America,” Haley said. “The president is desperate to get back into the Iran nuclear deal. He made that clear and said he would do almost anything to get the ayatollahs to sign on the dotted line.”
American weakness led to the war in Ukraine
Haley argued that Iran and North Korea, China and Russia were emboldened by the perception of US weakness due to its failures during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“When America is weak, evil reigns,” Haley said. “If America had failed so miserably in Afghanistan, there would never have been a war in Ukraine.”
At the start of her speech, Haley shifted from discussing Israel to “another nation in our hearts,” Ukraine. She criticized Russia for its behavior in the Russo-Ukrainian war, such as the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and the death of entire families.
“The war in Ukraine is a reminder that evil is real and must be faced,” Haley said.
Hailing Israel for being a haven for Ukrainian Jews fleeing the war, Haley also noted that one lesson from the conflict in Ukraine was that “when people have a country they call home, their love and pride for their country makes it easier for them to defend with. from his enemies.”
“We had such love for our country, that was us,” added the former UN ambassador, referring to the US.
Biden’s trip to the Middle East
Haley also criticized Biden’s behavior during his recent trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia. She said Biden has been too reluctant to commit to the idea that the U.S. will use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons if diplomacy fails. She said it sounded like a bluff and it was embarrassing.
The former South Carolina governor criticized the Biden administration’s decision to provide financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, which she says pays a terrorist family, using American tax dollars to attack an ally. Haley noted that most of the aid money would go to the “direct anti-Semitic terrorist front” of UNRWA, which she called one of the worst branches of the United Nations. Haley recalled at the conference that she convinced former President Donald Trump to defund UNRWA and urged him to distance himself from her.
Haley said Biden’s approach to Saudi Arabia had mixed messages and disrupted diplomatic progress in the region.
“Number one, the ayatollahs are concerned that America, Saudi Arabia and Israel are working together,” she said.
What is Christians United for Israel?
CUFI’s 17th Annual Washington Summit featured several notable American and Israeli speakers in addition to Haley. American pastor and CUFI founder John Hagee and Israeli Ambassador to Israel Michael Herzog also spoke at the event. Bahraini Ambassador to the US Shaikh Abdulla Bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz recorded the messages played at the conference.
The CFUI says it has more than 10 million members in its Christian Zionist organization, whose mission is to educate and support the defense of Israel and the Jewish people.
In a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, 72% of white Christian evangelical Protestants were most sympathetic to Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and 64% said the US should support Israel if it attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.
A 2021 Pew survey found that 24% of US adults identify as evangelical Christians. That same year, Gallup found that 36% of Americans identified as evangelical Christians.
If Haley were to enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, she would be competing with other popular hypothetical candidates such as Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
