Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley issued a statement calling on the Biden administration to take greater action in support of Israel as it responds to Hamas’s terrorist attack this past weekend. 

Addressing the connection between Iran and the terrorist groups that have attacked Israel, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate called for the United States government to freeze the $6 billion in Iranian funds currently held in Qatari banks. Haley urged the U.S. to redirect that money to Israel and to enforce and strengthen sanctions against the Islamic Republic and those who purchase its oil. 

Haley also urged the White House to provide Israel with all necessary arms and intelligence it may require to eradicate Hamas and to end taxpayer support for Palestinian entities and the United Nations–backed groups “that side with Hamas or fail to denounce antisemitic activity.” She said as well that the United States must “place all governments, particularly the government of Lebanon, on notice that they must not allow the use of their territory to engage in battle.” 

Haley’s words come after reports that Israel and Hezbollah terrorists within Lebanon had already engaged in artillery exchanges. Hexbollah has been funded and armed by Iran since its inception, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that he views himself as a “soldier” of the Islamic Republic.

The assertion by the former South Carolina governor in a recent Fox News interview that Israel must “finish it” — meaning finish Hamas — drew an attack from fellow presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, who accused Haley of having a “video game”–like outlook on foreign-policy matters. Ramaswamy, for his part, came under fire earlier in the campaign for arguing that the U.S. should cut off aid to Israel by 2028, though he later backtracked from that position.

Haley’s foreign-policy positions — which in recent days have elicited attacks from Democrats and more intervention-averse Republicans — seem to have won her an endorsement from former representative Will Hurd (R., Texas). Hurd ended his long-shot presidential campaign Monday after making little progress with voters and failing to qualify for either of the two debates held thus far; in a post on X (formerly Twitter) early Monday evening, Hurd wrote that “Haley is the best person in this race” to lead the U.S. as it faces a host of national-security challenges.