U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is being condemned by one of her predecessors under President Barack Obama for her statement Friday rebuking the U.N. after it placed former leader of the Palestinian Authority, Salam Fayyad, in charge of its mission in Libya.
“The United States was disappointed to see a letter indicating the intention to appoint the former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister to lead the U.N. Mission in Libya. For too long the U.N. has been unfairly biased in favor of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel,” Haley said Friday. “The United States does not currently recognize a Palestinian state or support the signal this appointment would send within the United Nations, however, we encourage the two sides to come together directly on a solution. Going forward the United States will act, not just talk, in support of our allies.”
In a pair of tweets Saturday, former U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice called Haley’s statement about the Palestinians serving the U.N. “ignorant, offensive, counterproductive.”
“Fayyad is first rate. The UN would be lucky to have him in Libya or anywhere else,” she added.
Rice served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. from 2009 to 2013, and later served as Obama’s national security adviser. She withdrew her name from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in 2012 after a controversy regarding her portrayal of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
