FLASHBACK: Nikki Haley warned United Nations of Hamas threat to Israel, sought to label terror group
Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, in 2018, warned the United Nations Security Council about the terror threat the Iran-backed Hamas posed to Israel, while also seeking to label it a terror group both in the chamber and the General Assembly -- but the efforts were snubbed or shut down by other members.
Haley, serving as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in 2018, told the body that Hamas "has been inciting violence for years," long before the U.S. moved to shift its embassy to Jerusalem as it did in 2018.
She sounded the alarm about media reports of plans Hamas made to invade Israel if rioters could break through.
"They have reported that Hamas maps and social media show the fastest routes to reach Israeli communities in case demonstrators make it through the security fence. They have reported on Hamas messages over loudspeakers that urge demonstrators to burst through the fence, falsely claiming Israeli soldiers were fleeing, when in fact, they were not," she told the Council.
She noted incidents where Molotov cocktails were put on kites and flown into Israel, and how key crossing points had been attacked. She also rebuffed calls for additional restraint by Israel by some on the Council -- calls that have been echoed in recent days since the terror attack by Hamas.
UN STILL DOES NOT LABEL, SANCTION HAMAS AS TERROR GROUP DESPITE MURDEROUS ATTACKS
"I ask my colleagues here in the Security Council, who among us would accept this type of activity on your border? No one would. No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has. In fact, the records of several countries here today suggest they would be much less restrained."
Israel was hit by a devastating terror attack last week that has left more than 1,300 Israelis dead. It has sparked a retaliation from Israel, which has then drawn more calls for restraint from U.N. officials.
Hamas is not labeled or sanctioned as a terror group by the United Nations Security Council, unlike ISIS and Al Qaeda.
Haley, who is now running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also introduced a resolution in the Security Council in June 2018 that would have labeled Hamas a terror group. The U.S. was the sole vote in favor, with other countries either abstaining or voting against. Russia, which backs Iran, has veto power on the council. The Council has still failed to sanction Hamas or label it a terror group.
Haley would that same year go on to push for a vote in the General Assembly to condemn Hamas and its rocket attacks against Israel. She succeeded and the vote took place. The amendment then passed with a slim majority -- only to then fail on procedural grounds when the president changed the rules to require a two-thirds majority.
Critics of the U.N., including Haley, have accused it of having an anti-Israel bias, both on its General Assembly and the Security Council as well as in its various agencies. During the Trump administration, the U.S. pulled out of or withdrew funding from a number of agencies citing those agencies’ anti-Israeli bias.
SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL ADMITS ISRAEL ATTACKS HAD BEEN PLANNED FOR YEARS UNDER GUISE OF GOVERNING GAZA
This week, the UN's top human rights official called for both Israel Defense Forces and Hamas to "respect international humanitarian law" and defuse tensions. He also criticized Israel's "full siege" of Gaza.
"They must immediately cease attacks targeting civilians and attacks expected to cause disproportionate death and injury of civilians or damage to civilian objects," Turk said.
Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan took am at how the U.N. had handled the crisis.
"The U.N.'s response to Israel's early warning to the residents of Gaza is shameful," Erdan told Fox News Digital. "For many years, the U.N. has turned a blind eye to the arming of Hamas and its use of the civilian population and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip as a hiding place for its weapons and murder.
"Now, instead of standing by Israel, whose citizens were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists and who tries to minimize harm to those not involved, it preaches to Israel. It is better for the U.N. to focus now on returning the the hostages, condemning Hamas, and supporting Israel's right to defend itself."