Nikki Haley: Joe Biden Would Reverse All Progress in Middle East

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said Sunday that Joe Biden would reverse all of the progress achieved by President Donald Trump in the Middle East by reverting to the failed policies of the Obama administration.

Speaking to an online panel discussion hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition, Haley also warned that Biden was adopting the  left-wing foreign policies pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and the anti-Israel, antisemitic members of the “Squad.”

The Jerusalem Post reported:

“For all the progress that we made in terms of Israel – in terms of the Middle East, in terms of really having a voice for America and Israel – I hate the thought that if Biden comes in, all of that goes away, because they’re going to go back and try and get back into the Iran deal,” Haley said.

“Look at the difference between Joe Biden and President Trump,” she said. “Who is the person that moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem? Who is the person that pulled out of the Iran deal? Who’s the person that allowed me to call out Hamas for the first time in the UN?” She was referring to a US-led effort to condemn the terrorist organization at the General Assembly in December 2018.

“Are you willing to give up to Biden, who’s moving closer and closer to [Rep. Ilhan] Omar and to [Sen.] Bernie [Sanders] to make his foreign-policy and domestic-policy decisions?” Haley asked. “Where was Biden when Resolution 2334 [in 2016 against Israeli settlements] passed? Where was Biden when Hamas was attacking Israel, and no one was doing anything? Where was Biden when we were asked to have the embassy move, and he wouldn’t do it?

“Don’t listen to what he’s saying now,” she said. “Actions are louder than words. We have actions of two different people who have held office. We have seen the results of two different people.”

Biden has a very poor record in the Middle East. In 1991, he voted against the Gulf War, which was a response to Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait the previous summer. But in 2002, he voted to authorize the Iraq War, which was based, in part, on poor intelligence. When that war bogged down, Biden proposed partitioning the country into ethnic and religious enclaves — before President George W. Bush restored order and stability with the “surge,” pushing back terrorist forces.

As Vice President, Biden was in charge of negotiations with the Iraqi government — which failed, leading to a rapid U.S. departure from the country. The result was a power vacuum later filled by the so-called “Islamic State,” or ISIS (or ISIL).

Earlier in his career, Biden had been known as a supporter of Israel. But in 1982, Biden had threatened to cut off aid to Israel. In 2010, Biden condemned Israel for building apartments in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem, creating a major rift — part of a deliberate effort by the Obama administration to pressure Israel and appease the Islamic world. Recently, Biden celebrated the endorsement of J Streets far-left lobbying organization that often takes radical anti-Israel positions.

Biden enthusiastically supported Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which gave the regime an estimated $150 billion in unfrozen assets and over $2 billion in cash, while allowing Iran to continue its nuclear program at the end of the deal. Notably, the Iran deal did not stop Iran from developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, or from pursuing terrorist activities and regional proxy wars. Biden has promised to restore the Iran deal, which President Donald Trump left.

In the closing days of the administration, Obama and Biden allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution declaring the Israeli presence in eastern Jerusalem — including in the Old City, holy to Jews for millennia — to be illegal.

More recently, Biden joined Democrats in opposing President Trump’s successful airstrike on Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the terrorist leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC). (Iran’s reprisal was relatively feeble.)

In addition to leaving the Iran deal and deterring Iranian aggression, Trump kept the U.S. out of further war in the region. He moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, while presenting a peace plan that preserves Israeli security and requires Palestinians to renounce terror if they wish to achieve statehood. Trump also built alliances with the Sunni states in the region that restored American influence and improved stability. He launched airstrikes against the Syrian dictatorship for using chemical weapons, enforcing a “red line” Obama would not. And Trump supported pro-democracy protesters in Iran, protesting successfully against the execution of dissidents.

Obama and Biden, in contrast, destabilized the region with a rapid pullout from Iraq; allowed Syria to use chemical weapons; let Russia restore its influence; isolated and pressured Israel; invaded Libya without a plan for rebuilding it; allowed Islamic State to flourish; abandoned the U.S. consulate in Benghazi; and gave Iran a path to nuclear weapons.

Haley also noted that China was the number one geopolitical rival to the U.S., and said that Biden had a career of appeasing China. In contrast, Haley reportedly said, Trump was standing up to China, economically and otherwise.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.