(NewsNation) — Former Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote “Finish Them” on an artillery shell in Israel Tuesday during her trip to the country, sparking widespread condemnation online.
Danny Danon, a member of the Israeli Knesset, posted a picture on X of Haley signing the weapon Monday.
“This is what my friend, the former ambassador, Nikki Haley wrote today on a shell during a visit to an artillery post on the northern border,” he said.
This move quickly received criticism though, including from Kenneth Roth, a former executive director for Human Rights Watch who is currently a visiting professor at Princeton.
“Nikki Haley shows who she is. As Israeli bombardment has killed far more Palestinian civilians than combatants, she signs a bomb, ‘Finish them,’” Roth wrote on X. “Why not just sign, “‘I favor Israeli war crimes.’”
Israel has been accused of war crimes by various entities since it began its bombardment of Gaza, which has killed 36,000 Palestinians living there, and spread widespread devastation, according to the local health ministry. This offensive was launched after Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage on Oct. 7.
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanhayu, his defense minister and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges earlier this month. In addition, the UN’s top court demanded Israel try to contain death and damage as it continues the offensive in Gaza, after South Africa accused the country of genocide. Israel has denied these allegations.
“While Americans watch Israel burn Gaza alive, and Palestinian children are beheaded, Nikki Haley writes love notes on bombs that drop on civilians,” Omar Suleiman, the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, posted on X. “Let the world bear witness to your moral depravity.”
NewsNation has reached out for comment to a press contact for Haley, who is currently the Walter P. Stern Chair of the Hudson Institute.
According to Time magazine, Haley, who used to be the governor of South Carolina and former President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, went to the site of the Supernova music festival and Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel, which both faced assaults from Hamas.
“Early Oct. 7, the people of Kibbutz Nir Oz woke to horror. As their homes burned, terrorists slaughtered complete families inside — including babies and grandparents,” Haley wrote on Instagram. “They heard the screams of their neighbors set on fire and burned alive. What remained was robbed, looted, and destroyed.1 in 4 of their neighbors were murdered or taken hostage in Gaza. No other country would accept this, Israel should not either.”
Haley’s trip came a couple of days after Israeli forces launched airstrikes that set fire to a tent camp housing displaced Palestinians, killing 45 people. This has only further spurred calls for a cease-fire among progressive politicians and activists, who have criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for its support for Israel.
Biden has said he would stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons if they invade the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where many displaced Palestinians have fled for shelter. However, NewsNation’s The Hill reports that White House officials, though they called images coming out of Rafah “tragic or horrific,” said Israel’s actions did not cross a “red line” that would lead to a change in U.S. policy” as it was an airstrike, not a ground invasion.