Palestinian Official Derides Haley: She is Not the World’s ‘Schoolmarm’

“I don’t think people appointed her the schoolmarm of the world,” Palestinian official Ashrawi said of Ambassador Haley.

By: United with Israel Staff

A senior Palestinian official criticized US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Nikki Haley for her conduct, and specifically for her pledge to “take names” of countries that act against the US at the UN, saying she had not been appointed “the schoolmarm of the world.”

“She threatened and she pressured and she used coercion and so on at the UN, particularly by taking down names. I don’t think people appointed her the schoolmarm of the world,” Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told reporters at the UN on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report.

In December, Haley warned she would “take names” of countries that voted against the US at a UN General Assembly vote in which more than 120 countries voted for a resolution calling for the US to reverse its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Haley has previously faced-off with Palestinian leaders, who have shown disrespect for the American diplomat.

In February, Senior Palestinian Authority official and lead negotiator Saeb Erekat insulted Haley by calling her “impudent” and said she should learn to “shut up” and refrain from criticizing Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas.

“Nikki Haley needs to shut up and realize that the Palestinian leadership is not the problem,” said the top diplomat, who in the past has led the Palestinian peace negotiations, in an interview with the Al-Watan Voice news website. “Instead, the problem is the Israeli occupation and the policies it continues to pursue.”

Haley retorted by telling a UN Security Council (UNSC) which hosted Abbas, “I will decline the advice I was recently given by your top negotiator Saeb Erekat. I will not shut up. Rather, I will respectfully speak some hard truths.”