War Hawk Autographs Bombs

Nikki Haley shows her true colors: The former presidential contender, United Nations ambassador, and South Carolina governor visited Israel this week. A photo was taken of her writing "finish them" on artillery shells that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will use in either Lebanon or Gaza, along with "America [heart emoji] Israel always." (She was visiting the north, so using the artillery shells against Hezbollah seems more likely.)

Interpreted charitably, Haley could have meant "them" as Hamas, the terrorists responsible for perpetrating the October 7 attack which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 240 hostages, or Hezbollah, a terrorist group and key Hamas ally based in Lebanon that's been assaulting the north. But given how much criticism Israel has received from international onlookers—including the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—for purported war crimes and conducting what has been described as a "genocide" in Gaza, "finish them" seems liable to misinterpretation. Her follow-up comments didn't exactly exonerate her.

"Israel, they're the good guys," Haley said in an interview with the newspaper Israel Hayom (more coverage here). "And you know what I want Israelis to know? You're doing the right thing. Don't let anybody make you feel wrong."

Haley then criticized the Biden administration's decision earlier this month to pause heavy bombs shipments to Israel over the military's Rafah invasion: "You can't hold back weapons from an ally. So if we want to be a friend to Israel, the best thing America can do is let Israel do its job and just support we shouldn't be preaching to Israel, we shouldn't be telling them how to win the war, we shouldn't tell them what they can or can't do."

"We should just be saying, what else do you need?" Haley continued.

Biden's side of the story: "Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those [2,000-pound] bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers," President Joe Biden said on CNN. "I've made it clear to Bibi [Netanyahu] and the war cabinet: They're not going to get our support, if in fact they go on these population centers."

It's easy to look at Haley as nothing more than a war hawk and, indeed, her comments suggest that she wants the U.S. to provide fully unconditional support for Israel—contra how the Biden administration has been handling the situation. The "finish them" comment was probably referring to terrorists, not civilians—making it a bit less horrifying than some of the loudest voices would have you believe—but Haley's inability to describe the situation with sufficient nuance is disturbing nonetheless, and more evidence of why her 2024 presidential campaign so sorely missed the mark.

Military assistance: The U.S. provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military aid each year. This year, legislators here have already passed a supplemental $26 billion in funds for Israeli defense and humanitarian aid in Gaza. At least 25,000 Gazans have been killed so far, though there are disputes over the death toll (controversy explained here), with some 10,000 believed to be buried in the rubble that covers the Strip. U.S. taxpayer dollars are going toward Israel's attempt to wipe out Hamas, which includes a lot of horror and destruction, in the form of both civilian lives and an almost completely wiped-out Gaza Strip that will be hard for residents to inhabit if they're ever able to return. Roads, hospitals, schools, mosques, and all the buildings needed to support the functions of daily life have been obliterated over the last six months; it's not clear when the bombing will cease or what will be left when it does.

Hamas, of course, is partially responsible for foisting this amount of destruction on the people they tyrannize (some of whom voted them into power years ago): They hide among civilians, whether it's putting entrances to their tunnel network on sacrosanct hospital grounds or storing weapons next to MRI machines. Some of the destruction is also a function of the dense geography of the Gaza Strip. But some of it is also surely due to Israeli military failures and a poorly calibrated sense of what is just: A recent strike near a displaced persons camp which took out two valuable Hamas members also killed 45 innocents via a fire that the airstrike accidentally started. (The bombs responsible were GBU-39s, designed and manufactured in the U.S.)

When the act of finishing Hamas involves so much collateral damage—in the form of civilian life especially—it's fair to expect politicians not to treat the war in Gaza like a sporting match, or to decorate bombs with hearts.

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