Nikki Haley Slams AIPAC for Tolerating Supporters of Iran Deal

Warns group against bipartisanship at expense of a far-right position

Former governor and Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley used an address at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) to rip into the AIPAC lobbying group for having any tolerance at all of supporters of the Iran nuclear deal.

Haley went on to argue that AIPAC is too interested in bringing Democrats aboard for the sake of bipartisanship. She warned this would encourage bad behavior.

All of this is built around Haley’s supposition that the Israel lobby is championing a very specific far-right interpretation of Israeli interests, hostile to the Iran nuclear deal and likewise opposing a two-state solution.

The reality is that this is nowhere near a universal position within Israel, nor is it AIPAC’s. They leave open the possibility of supporting the Iran deal, and unsurprisingly don’t excommunicate US politicians who take the same position.

Haley’s comments were embraced at RJC, but likely less so at AIPAC. Haley also went after the J Street lobbyists for not being hostile to the Palestinians, again reflecting a very skewed view of the position of Israel.

It may be understandable that Haley is carving out this position, as her experience was with the former Netanyahu government, which had very much staked out just this position and tried to spin it as the only acceptable one within Israel.

With her political future still up in the air, Haley may believe she can position herself as the sole Israel-acceptable candidate in the future. She may, in the long run, alienate much of Israel’s political spectrum.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.