In a special joint session of Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, and the United States congress, both Jerusalem and Washington marked the 50th year to the 1967 Middle East war, in which the Jewish state decisively overpowered its neighboring enemies in just six days. In an address to the joint session, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the fact that Israel provided all religions ‘freedom of worship’ at Jerusalem holy sites, after the Jewish state conquered the old city from Jordan, “horrible sectarian violence” – similar to what is seen today in war-stricken neighboring countries – was averted.
“We made sure that the holy sites of Judaism, of Christianity and Islam were available to all. Unfettered and untouched. This is something that can be appreciated and retrospect because look around us. Understand what would happen to this, it is not even a square kilometer, what would happen to this less than a square mile, if we were not here. It would descend into a horrible sectarian violence. It would descended into the worst barbarism that the world is seeing since the outrages of world war II,” said Haley.
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, who is on her first ever visit to the state of Israel, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem. During their meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu praised the American diplomat for her staunch support for Israel in international bodies, declaring her ongoing efforts as providing a service, not only for the Jewish state, but also to the United States and the United Nations itself.
Following her meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Ambassador Haley was received at the President’s residence in Jerusalem by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who commended her for standing with the Jewish state and furthermore referred to the American diplomat as “one of Israel’s closest friends.” Ambassador Haley responded to the praise by declaring that “it is a new day when it comes to the way the United Nations treats Israel.”
“It is an absolute thrill to be here in Israel I so much appreciate the support that we’ve received from the people of Israel but I feel somewhat guilty because all I did at the United Nations was tell the truth and I have never taken kindly to bullies and the UN has bullied Israel for a very long time and we’re not going to let that happen anymore it is a new day for Israel in the United Nations and we just got back from Geneva talking about the Human Rights Council and hopefully it will be a new day in the Human Rights Council when it comes to Israel,” said Haley.
After meeting with the Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, Ambassador Nikki Haley traveled to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where she met with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, during which they reportedly discussed the renewed effort by Washington to restart the long-stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.