What Nikki Haley wrote on that Israeli artillery shell reminds us who she really is | Opinion
Palestinian children were burned alive when Israeli military bombed a tent camp late last month in an area Israel had designated as a safe zone.
The Biden administration called the attack “devastating” and “heartbreaking.”
Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the bombing was a “tragic accident” as others around the world condemned the attack. It left at least 45 innocent Palestinians dead, increasing the estimated Palestinian death toll to more than 36,000 since Israel began its onslaught on Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
A day after the tent camp was bombed, Nikki Haley, who was in Israel, thought it wise to write “Finish them!” on an Israeli artillery shell that will no doubt kill more innocents, possibly burning more Palestinian children alive. The casual callousness of the former South Carolina governor who served as U.N. ambassador during the Donald Trump’s administration is hard to describe. Her cruelty, inhumanity and bloodthirstiness is hard to overstate.
Haley tried to deflect from her disgusting decision by making a statement about the evil inflicted upon Israel on Oct. 7 instead of grieving the dead Palestinian babies the way so many grieved the Israeli babies Hamas murdered.
“One in 4 of their neighbors were murdered or taken hostage in Gaza,” she told CNN in a statement. “No other country would accept this, Israel should not either.”
If there was ever doubt that Haley is one of the most shape-shifting politicians in a world of shape-shifting politicians, what she did should erase all questions. She is.
Haley’s artillery signing came in the wake of her decision to back Trump during the 2024 election cycle after not endorsing him immediately after exiting a presidential nomination race in which she had a good showing. She came in second to Trump. Gullible political watchers thought there was a chance she’d be independent-minded and not fall in line with a man she called “unhinged” and “diminished” and who she said couldn’t win a general election. That was a pipe dream.
Haley is very much like South Carolina Sens. Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham, as well as most elected and wanna-be elected Republicans, bowing the knee to one of the most corrupt men in politics.
This is who she is — and has long been. She found a way to sound like a reasonable person during the Republican presidential debates, at least momentarily on issues such as abortion. That version of Haley would have made a strong general election candidate. But it wasn’t real, and never has been. That’s the power of shape-shifting politicians. They can mold themselves at the drop of a hat into whatever they need to be. Because they have no principles. Because morality is a talking point, not something lived.
That Haley could, just hours after Israeli bombs burned Palestinian babies alive, gleefully sign an Israeli artillery shell — likely because it would play well on TV back home, at least for Republicans she’ll need if she runs in 2028 — is all you need to know about her. The ruse has forever been exposed.
I’ll admit that I held out hope that the real Nikki Haley is the one who from time to time seems competent, compassionate even, the one who can give a good speech and perform well in a debate. I’ve even tried to give her the benefit of doubt when others said I was just wasting my time.
They don’t have to tell me anymore. When she was S.C. governor, she was OK with denying needy residents health care access just to make a political statement against Obamacare. Now after a star turn on the national stage as a presidential candidate, she reminded us who she really is.
This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 6:00 AM.