Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has argued that Palestinian civilians cannot be trusted after the deadly Hamas attack on Israel.
Hamas, a militant group that governs parts of Gaza, launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing approximately 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostages. About 120 hostages remain captive in Gaza, with a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli officials.
In an extended assault on Gaza that has sparked a wave of condemnation and criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in response, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Haley rejected criticism of Netanyahu and Israel during an interview with CNN‘s Jake Tapper that aired on Thursday, arguing that “Americans should not weigh in on who is the head of Israel” and “just need to support Israel regardless of who the head is,” before accusing Palestinian civilians of participating in the October 7 attack.
“Three thousand members of Hamas came in, took over their neighborhood, took over the concert site, butchered people, robbed from them, burned people alive and took people hostage,” Haley said. “You know who joined them? Thousands of Palestinian citizens. That’s what no one’s talking about.”
“They looted, they murdered and they helped. And in many cases, and I talked to hostage survivors, they took them back and sold them to Hamas,” she continued. “So why would Netanyahu or anyone in Israel trust Hamas or the Palestinians?”
Newsweek reached out for comment to conservative think tank The Hudson Institute, where Haley serves as the Walter P. Stern chair, via email on Thursday evening.
Haley went on to tell Tapper that Americans should be viewing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “from the perspective of an Israeli,” while failing to mention that there is substantial opposition to Netanyahu’s Gaza policies within Israel, including his efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
“Look at it from the perspective of an Israeli,” said Haley. “They don’t want October 7 to happen again. They want the hostages to come home. By the way, eight American hostages are there—five that we know are alive—but all eight need to come home. Why are we not obsessed with those hostages right now? Why are we not obsessed with making sure it doesn’t happen?”
“We should not be arguing with Israel when they are so worried about trusting Palestinians or making sure that Hamas never rules Gaza again,” she added. “Those are fair things. If that had happened to America, we would be twice as angry … Now that Israel’s fighting back, you’re gonna condemn them?”
While the Biden administration has been clear in its support of Israel, Netanyahu’s visit to address Congress in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday reinforced the presence of substantial opposition to the Israel-Hamas war in the U.S., with a series of dramatic protests occurring. A large number of lawmakers—consisting mostly, but not entirely, of Democrats—also chose to boycott the speech.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
