Nikki Haley has always been a strong supporter of Israel and this was reaffirmed on Thursday when she responded to news of the October 7 murder of Israel-US citizen Judith Weinstein Haggai. Haggai had been presumed kidnapped until Kibbutz Nir Oz announced her death last week. Hailey explicitly placed the blame on Hamas, tweeting, “Another American is confirmed murdered by Hamas, adding, “Finish them.”
On the morning of October 7, when Hamas launched its attack, Judith and her husband Gadi went out for their regular morning walk in the fields and vineyards of the kibbutz. Judith managed to notify friends that they had been shot and that Gadi was critically injured. This was the last contact anyone had with them.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that between five and 10 of the hostages hold U.S. citizenship.
This stands in sharp contrast to the White House statement which said that the US citizen was “believed to have been killed by Hamas .” The statement did not clarify what other theories of Haggai’s cause of death were being considered.
In the statement, Biden stated his course of action as “I reaffirm the pledge we have made to all the families of those still held hostage: we will not stop working to bring them home”.
Biden’s promise sounds a bit hollow as at least 30 U.S. citizens were killed by Palestinian Hamas on October 7, and 13 remained unaccounted for.
Haley has blamed Biden for going easy on Hamas to appease Iran.
