Last October, much to the chagrin of many at The Daily Wire, Trump Administration U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley resigned. Hank Berrien of The Daily Wire reported at the time:
According to a new report, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has offered her resignation to President Trump. …
Haley called the U.N. Human Rights Council, with its huge animus toward Israel, the U.N.’s greatest failure. Her blunt attitude regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was evidenced time and time again. She blasted the Obama administration for abstaining on the vote for U.N. resolution 2334, which denied the Jewish claim to the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Jerusalem; excoriated the U.N. for its animus toward Israel and tore into the U.N. Security Council for criticizing the Trump Administration’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Haley also slammed Russia for its support for the Assad regime in Syria after the regime reportedly launched a chemical weapons attack, looking directly at the Russian Ambassador and asking, “How many more children have to die before Russia cares? The United States sees yesterday’s attack as a disgrace at the highest level and assurance that humanity means nothing to the Syrian government.”
Haley was generally beloved by America’s pro-Israel community. Repeatedly, she stood up for the Jewish state in an internationa tribunal that, for decades, has been infamously and institutionally biased against it. She provided a clarion voice in defense of Zionism in a body that former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once described, in a famous Commentary essay, as being full of inhospitable “jackals.” And it is due to the nature of these anti-Semitic “jackals” — as well as the nature of the United States’ permanent veto power on the U.N. Security Council — that American ambassadors to the U.N. have traditionally been disproportionately preoccupied with blocking anti-Israel tomfoolery.
To be sure, Haley’s consistent pro-Israel voice met with decidedly mixed results, in terms of actual U.N. voting. As the indefatigable Hillel Neuer of UN Watch noted in November, the 2018 U.N. General Assembly session featured 21 condemnatory resolutions pertaining to Israel — and six pertaining to the rest of the world combined. Yes, really.
Last Friday, President Trump formally nominated Haley’s successor: Kelly Knight Craft, the current U.S. Ambassador to Canada. Politico reported:
President Donald Trump on Friday night announced he will nominate current Ambassador to Canada Kelly Knight Craft as his next United Nations ambassador.
“Kelly has done an outstanding job representing our Nation and I have no doubt that, under her leadership, our Country will be represented at the highest level,” Trump wrote on Twitter. …
If confirmed, Craft would fill a vacancy left after Nikki Haley resigned from the post last year and State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert withdrew from consideration over the weekend.
Today, Jewish News Syndicate reports that Israel Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon fully expects Craft to carry on her predecessor’s legacy of defending Israel in front of the world’s “jackals”:
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon expressed enthusiasm for U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to represent the United States at the United Nations, Kelly Knight Craft, who currently serves as U.S. ambassador to Canada.
“With her previous experience as part of the U.S. delegation to the 61st General Assembly, Craft is no stranger to the United Nations,” Danon told Jewish Insider.
“I have no doubt she will continue the strong positions Ambassador Nikki Haley took and look forward to working with her to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship,” he added.
Time will tell whether Danon’s optimism proves prescient or unduly Pollyannaish. But from the perspective of the pro-Israel community, Craft certainly has big shoes to fill.