Straight-talking Nikki Haley KOs anti-Israel, anti-US vote

The United States on Monday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have required the Trump administration to backtrack on its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

At the request of Arab and Muslim states, the 193-member General Assembly then scheduled a rare emergency special session on Thursday to consider the matter. The U.S. has no veto power in the General Assembly, whose action would be non-binding but carries political weight. Since 1950, the General Assembly has only held 10 emergency sessions, half of them about Israel.

Haley warned on Tuesday that the U.S. will “will be taking names” when the General Assembly votes.

On Twitter, @nikkihaley wrote: “At the UN we’re always asked to do more & give more. So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl, abt where to locate OUR embassy, we don’t expect those we’ve helped to target us. On Thurs there’ll be a vote criticizing our choice. The US will be taking names.”

Speaking in advance of the Security Council vote, Haley said she would not discuss the president’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, calling it a decision that a “sovereign nation has every right to do.”

In a strongly-worded post-veto speech that was widely praised by supporters of Israel, Haley said, “What we witnessed here today in the Security Council is an insult. It won’t be forgotten.”

“The fact that this veto is being done in defense of American sovereignty and in defense of America’s role in the Middle East peace process is not a source of embarrassment for us,” she said. “It should be an embarrassment to the remainder of the Security Council.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video thanking Haley. “On Chanukah, you spoke like a Maccabi,” he said. “You lit a candle of truth. You dispel the darkness. One defeated the many. Truth defeated lies.”