Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley visited Israel over Memorial Day weekend and signed her name on Israeli artillery shells as a show of support for the country’s war with Gaza, where some 35,000 Palestinians have been killed so far.
Haley, a former UN ambassador, traveled with Danny Danon, a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to an Israel Defense Forces post and interacted with soldiers serving on the northern border with Lebanon. Danon posted photos on social media of Haley signing the artillery shells and including messages “Finish them!” and “America loves Israel!”
“This is what my friend, former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today about a projectile during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” Danon wrote on social media, according to Google Translate.
While it is not entirely clear where the bombs will be used, the move was considered insensitive as Israel attacks Rafah in its ongoing campaign in Gaza. Sunday’s airstrikes killed around 50 refugees who were sheltering in tents in Rafah after being evacuated from other parts of the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the airstrikes “a tragic mistake.”
On Tuesday, Haley posted photos of the aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7 about Israel on social media with the caption: “No other country would accept this, neither should Israel.”
Haley also met Monday with Israeli survivors of the Oct. 7 attack, which left about 1,190 people dead and about 240 taken hostage. She told reporters in Israel that the United States should not withhold weapons from the country.
“America needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war,” said Haley, the former governor of South Carolina. “Until you’ve lived through it, you can’t tell them how to fight it. Either you are a friend or you are not a friend.”
After dropping out of the 2024 presidential race in March, Haley supported former President Donald Trump last week, despite previously calling Trump “unbalanced”, “diminished” and incapable of being president.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel killed about 12,000 people. The estimated death toll is 1,190.
