Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday said that about half of Gaza’s residents during her tenure as US ambassador to the United Nations despise Hamas and want freedom from a “terrorist regime.”
Haley, 51, recalled her time as UN ambassador from 2017 to 2018 when asked on CNN about former President Donald Trump’s controversial comments about the war in Israel, and about another 2024 GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, coming out forcefully against the US accepting refugees from the Gaza Strip.
“You had half of them at the time I was there not wanting to be under Hamas rule. They don’t want terrorists overseeing them,” Haley told “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper on Sunday. “The other half support Hamas and want to be part of that.”
“There are so many of these people who want to be free from this terrorist rule,” he continued. “They want to be free from all that. And America has always been sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists.”
DeSantis, 45, on Saturday said of the refugees from Gaza: “not all of them are Hamas, but they are all anti-Semitic.” He argued that it was up to neighboring Arab countries to absorb Palestinians fleeing the conflict.
Nikki Haley is at odds with former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over their comments about Israel. Getty Images Ron DeSantis strongly opposes accepting Palestinian refugees into the US.Getty Images
Haley did not directly respond to his comments, but she repeated her criticism of Trump, 77, calling the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah – which the US designates a terrorist organization – “very smart” during a campaign speech in Florida last week. Wednesday.
Trump mused at the time that “the press doesn’t like it when” he shows intelligence on US adversaries like Chinese Leader Xi Jinping – while insulting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as unprepared for a surprise Hamas attack.
“[Netanyahu] have been hurt badly by what happened here. He is not ready. He is not ready and Israel is not ready,” Trump said of Netanyahu, whom he had previously angered for congratulating President Biden on his 2020 election victory.
Donald Trump suggested that Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel would not have happened under his watch.Getty Images
Haley suggested that Trump’s comments were emblematic of why he is running for president.
“That’s why I keep saying it’s time for a new generation of leaders,” Haley said.
“[Trump] congratulated the Chinese Communist Party not long ago… You don’t go and praise any of them,” he said. “That makes America look weak. It doesn’t make America look strong.”
“We have to look forward. This will be a difficult day for everyone involved. This is not the time to sit there and bash a leader,” he added.
Trump’s campaign has since defended his comments, arguing that he “clearly demonstrated how incompetent Biden and his administration are by telegraphing terrorist-prone areas” and that “smart does not equal good.”
Mike Pence ripped his former boss for calling Hezbollah ‘very smart.’AP
A flurry of 2024 Republican candidates have slammed Trump for his comments on Hezbollah.
“Hizbullah is not very smart. Hezbollah is evil,” former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News, calling Trump’s remarks “reckless.”
“Let’s make it clear he’s stupid. He’s stupid. Only an idiot wouldn’t make a comment like that,” former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told CNN last week. “As a Republican Party, we cannot again nominate a fool like this to be our candidate and carry him anywhere near the presidency.”
Chris Christie blasted Donald Trump as an idiot for his comments about the war in Israel.Getty Images
“It is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for president, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, let alone praise Hezbollah terrorists as ‘very smart,'” DeSantis posted on X in response.
Terrorists have killed at least 1,200 Israelis and 22 Americans and held many more hostages, so it is absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel, let alone praising Hezbollah terrorists as “very smart.”
As… pic.twitter.com/408e82OVDP
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) October 12, 2023
The DeSantis campaign may have issued its strongest rebuke of Trump to date.
“No matter what rhetorical gymnastics his campaign team tries to try to once again protect him, nobody can change the fact that last night Donald Trump showed his true colors,” said communications director Andrew Romeo.
“It’s disruptive and disqualifying.”
The Biden administration also attacked Trump.
“We are completely at a loss as to why any American would praise an Iranian-backed terrorist organization as ‘intelligent,'” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
“This is the time for all of us to join hands with Israel against ‘untainted evil.’ That’s what the president does as commander-in-chief.”
In a statement Sunday, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Haley “should stop taking Democrats’ talking points.”
Trump “brought peace to the Middle East with the Abraham Accords, moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, and no new wars have started under his watch,” Cheung told The Post.
Trump is the runaway frontrunner in the 2024 presidential field with 58.3% support followed by DeSantis at 12.9% and Haley at 7.6%, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
