Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has taken aim at fellow 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for supporting cuts of U.S. funding to Israel — a measure most lawmakers on Capitol Hill disagree with.
During an Aug. 11 appearance on Russell Brand's Rumble channel, Ramaswamy claimed he would cease funding to Israel in 2028, when a $38 billion U.S. package ends.
The remarks start about the 57:07 mark.
"Come 2028, that additional aid won’t be necessary in order to still have the kind of stability that we’d actually have in the Middle East by having Israel more integrated in with its partners," he said.
Ramaswamy also called for the expansion of the Abraham Accords, an agreement that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab countries, arguing Israel should be able to stand "on its own two feet."
"Israel should not receive preferential treatment from the United States, even though our relationship with Israel has advanced American interests,” he asserted.
On Monday, Haley hit back.
“Vivek Ramaswamy is completely wrong to call for ending America’s special bond with Israel,” she said in a statement, the Washington Examiner reported.
“Support for Israel is both the morally right and strategically smart thing to do. Both countries are stronger and safer because of our iron-clad friendship. As president, I will never abandon Israel."
American support of Israel has long been championed in Washington, though tensions have been strained between Democrats and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the country's overhaul of its judicial system.
Republicans remain allies, however, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pressuring President Joe Biden to invite Netanyahu to the White House, the Washington Examiner reported.
Ramaswamy's statements on Israel put him at odds with most Republicans, as have his controversial foreign policy comments on Ukraine, in which he said he would allow Russia to claim parts of the war-torn country and is against Ukraine joining NATO.
James Stavridis, former supreme allied commander of NATO, slammed Ramaswamy's CNN comments as appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"This kind of foolish appeasement was attempted in the 20th century, and you can drop a plumb line to the rise of fascism and the Second World War. Never a good idea to give in to liars and bullies like Putin," he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In her statement, Haley decried Ramaswamy’s position as “part of a concerning pattern with Vivek.”
"Between abandoning Israel, abolishing the FBI, and giving Taiwan to China, his foreign policy proposals have a common theme: they make America less safe,” she insisted.
Haley and Ramaswamy will be able to square off at the Republican National Committee’s first primary debate Wednesday in Milwaukee.
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