President Trump’s envoy to the UN Nikki Haley landed in Israel Wednesday morning for a three-day visit during which she plans to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and, possibly, Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. She will also visit Yad Vashem and the Kotel, and be taken on helicopter tours of Israel’s northern and southern borders by the IDF brass.
Haley was raised as a Sikh, but after marrying Michael Haley she converted to Christianity in a United Methodist Church. When Christianity Today asked her if she hopes her parents convert to Christianity, Haley said, “What I hope is that my parents do what’s right for them.”
Her sensible and tolerant approach to life, religion, and politics, has made her one of the most pro-Israel senior American politicians – only this past Tuesday she threatened to pull out of the UN Human Rights Council if it does not stop what she called its “relentless, pathological campaign against Israel.” Haley also stated that “nowhere has the UN’s failure been more consistent and more outrageous than in its bias against our close ally Israel.”
Haley has stated that the Western Wall should be recognized as part of Israel. She was described Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) as a “strong supporter of the State of Israel.” As Governor of South Carolina, Haley signed a law to stop the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement – the first such legislation by a US state.
Haley has been unafraid to oppose President Trump when she has serious disagreements with him. On March 15, she said she would not support a Muslim ban, stating that she did not believe “we should ever ban anyone based on their religion,” and a Muslim ban would be “un-American.”