‘FINISH THEM’: Ex-US Presidential Candidate Writes On Israeli Artillery Shell

Former U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley wrote “FINISH THEM” on an Israeli shell during a visit to the country this week.

A photograph of Haley making the inscription was shared Tuesday by Danny Danon, a member of the Israeli parliament and former ambassador to the United Nations, who accompanied Haley on her tour.

The Republican, who was America’s U.N. ambassador during the Donald Trump administration, was photographed bending down and writing on the shell with a purple marker. “‘Finish Them!’ This is what my friend, the ambassador Nikki Haley, wrote,” Danon said in his social media post.

Haley’s scrawl drew immediate blowback from human rights watchdogs, as Israel’s months-long assault on Gaza continues.

“Nikki Haley shows who she is,” said former Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth. “As Israeli bombardment has killed far more Palestinian civilians than combatants, she signs a bomb, ‘Finish them.’ Why not just sign, ‘I favor Israeli war crimes.’”

Haley visited the northern border of Israel, a day after an Israeli airstrike killed at least 45 civilians, including children, at a Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel’s military said it had attacked a Hamas compound, killing two senior militants. After further details emerged, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterized the strike as “a tragic mistake” and announced an investigation.

The strike drew international condemnation with French President Emmanuel Macron calling for a halt to Israel’s Rafah operation, adding there were “no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians.”

According to estimates from Gaza, Israel has killed more than 35,000 people in its retaliatory assault, after Palestinian Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds of hostages during a violent attack on October 7 last year.

Haley abandoned her White House bid in March following significant losses in the Republican primary contests to Donald Trump. Despite a bitter contest, she said last week she would vote for Trump in November’s presidential election.

“What America needs to understand is, if Israel’s fighting our enemies, how can we not help them?” she told reporters this week. “America needs to do whatever Israel needs and stop telling them how to fight this war.”

“The sure way to not help Israel is to withhold weapons,” she added. “The sure way to not help Israel is to praise the ICC, the ICJ or any of those that are condemning Israel instead of condemning what happens.”