![Nikki Haley, the former two-term conservative governor of South Carolina and former U.S. ambassador to the UN, who officially announced her candidacy from the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential elections, speaks during a campaign event at Berkeley Electric Cooperative in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, United States on June 19, 2023 [Allison Joyce - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/AA-20230619-31471374-31471353-REPUBLICAN_CANDIDATE_NIKKI_HALEY_IN_SOUTH_CAROLINA.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Republican presidential hopeful and former US Ambassador to the UN Nimrata “Nikki” Randhawa Haley has called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “finish them” following the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Hawkish Haley’s comment was a reference to Hamas.
In a tweet posted yesterday, Haley shared a clip of a televised interview with Fox News, in which she asserted that, “Israel needs us when Hamas and Iran are doing this.” She added a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that, “Iran and Hamas should have hell to pay for what they’ve just done.”
Haley is a staunch supporter of the occupation state. “This is not just an attack on Israel,” she claimed somewhat ludicrously. “This was an attack on America.”
Criminal Haley. Is Low IQ Haley calling to murder all the Palestinian people?
— Chen Weihua （陈卫华） (@chenweihua) October 8, 2023
Despite reports claiming that Iran was involved in the Hamas operation, Iran’s Permanent Mission to the UN has denied the claims. Nevertheless, support was expressed for the legitimate resistance of the Palestinians.
READ: Israel MK calls for a second Nakba in Gaza
Reacting to Haley’s tweet, many social media users condemned her comments as “genocidal”.
"Finish them" is an explicit demand for the genocide of Palestinians.
Palestine is exposing war criminals in droves. https://t.co/we245PDDKb
— Danny Haiphong (@SpiritofHo) October 8, 2023
In a separate segment on NBC’s “Meet The Press”, the former Governor of South Carolina criticised the Biden administration, and in particular Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for agreeing to release $6 billion of Iran’s funds, claiming that this had a role in the resistance operation.
“It was irresponsible for Secretary Blinken to say that the $6 billion doesn’t weigh in here,” she said. “I mean, let’s be honest with the American people and understand that Hamas knows and Iran knows they’re moving money around as we speak, because they know six billion is going to be released.”
Yesterday Blinken insisted that the $6bn expected to be unfrozen as part of the US prisoner swap deal with Iran is unspent. He dismissed suggestions that the Biden administration’s deal may have contributed to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
READ: Israel: shekel collapses against US dollar after Hamas Operation Al-Aqsa Flood