Nikki Haley is attacking fellow GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy for advocating for ending U.S. aid to Israel, as she warms up for a faceoff on the debate stage Wednesday.
“Vivek Ramaswamy is completely wrong to call for ending America’s special bond with Israel,” said Ms. Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. “Supporting Israel is both the morally right & strategically smart thing to do.”
She said that’s not the only policy error by Mr. Ramaswamy, a biotech millionaire and political novice who has been rising in the polls.
“This is part of a pattern with Vivek—his foreign policies have a common theme: they make America less safe,” she said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The Washington Times reached out to the Ramaswamy campaign.
The criticism was in response to Mr. Ramaswamy’s comments during a recent appearance on the “Stay Free with Russell Brand” show on Rumble. He said he would phase out aid to Israel by 2028 when the current $38 billion U.S. aid package ends.
SEE ALSO: DeSantis, Ramaswamy to share center stage at first GOP debate
“Come 2028, that additional aid won’t be necessary in order to still have the kind of stability that we would actually have in the Middle East by having Israel more integrated in with its partners,” he said.
Mr. Ramaswamy called his plan for the Middle East the “Abraham Accords 2.0,” referring to the historic agreement brokered by former President Trump in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain recognized Israel’s sovereignty.
Mr. Ramaswamy said cutting off aid would help get Israel to work better with its Arab neighbors so that Israel could be “on its own two feet.”
Mrs. Haley has been a vocal backer of the close relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
Ken Farnaso, press secretary for Mrs. Haley wrote on X: “Nikki Haley with always defend America’s ironclad friendship with Israel.”
Mr. Ramaswamy has not shied away from provocative foreign policy positions. He has said it would be acceptable for a peace deal to include Russia keeping parts of Ukraine. He also said he would support blocking Ukraine from joining NATO.
“Our goal should not be for Putin to lose. Our goal should be for America to win,” he said on CNN.
Mr. Ramaswamy said he would visit Moscow and pull Russia out of its military alliance with China.
His position on Ukraine has support within the Republican Party but no doubt ruffles the feathers of some national security hawks.
James Stavridis, a retired NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, criticized Mr. Ramaswamy’s Ukraine war stance on X: “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.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.