Candace Owens Endorses Nikki Haley for 'President of Israel'

Candace Owens has "endorsed" Nikki Haley for "president of Israel" in a tongue-in-cheek assessment of the 2024 U.S. presidential candidate's recent statements.

Haley was one of the five Republican hopefuls who took to the stage in Miami, Florida, last week for a debate. The candidates—including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy—sparred over issues including federal spending, Ukraine and China.

In an episode of her eponymous podcast, which debuted shortly after the debate, conservative commentator Owens spoke about the topics the candidates discussed, before zeroing in on Haley's recent posts on X, formerly Twitter.

In looking at Haley's posts on the platform over the previous 15 hours, Owens said that they all focused on Israel, Russia, China and Hamas. Israel is currently involved in a war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Russia is entrenched in a conflict with Ukraine, and China is engaged in a number of territorial disputes with neighboring countries.

"So the point is clear—she wants to keep fighting wars overseas because she sees it as our place," Owens said. "I just think it's stunning that every single tweet in that order is about what Nikki Haley wants America to complete overseas."

During the episode—which was titled "My Endorsement For President Is..."—Owens went on to wryly back Haley as Israeli President Isaac Herzog's successor. Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu serves as Israel's prime minister.

"I am here today to endorse Nikki Haley as president of Israel," Owens declared. "I think she's earned that. I think Bibi Netanyahu is going through a very bad time right now. Support for Israel has virtually collapsed socially, if you're paying attention to the trends, if you're paying attention to what people are watching, if you're paying attention to the protests.

"And the one person that I think is capable of getting it back is Nikki Haley, with enough money from foreign interest lobbies. So there it is, guys, I'm endorsing Nikki Haley for president of Israel."

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Haley via email for comment.

While the majority of prominent conservative figures have shared pro-Israel messages in recent weeks, Owens has drawn criticism from hard-right voices over her comments regarding the Israel-Hamas war, including from her boss at the Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro.

A video posted to X on Tuesday showed Shapiro, who is Jewish, answering questions in front of a crowd. He described Owens' commentary on the ongoing conflict in Gaza as "disgraceful." Shapiro, host of the conservative podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, is the founding editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, where Owens hosts her show.

"The question is about Candace Owens," Shapiro said into a microphone in the video posted to X by user @LoomerLs. "I think her behavior during this has been disgraceful, without a doubt."

Shapiro's answer was met with applause from the audience, followed by his acknowledgment that Owens "still works at my company."

"I think that her faux sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous," Shapiro added.

The podcast host first garnered attention shortly after the Palestinian militant group Hamas led its surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people, taking more than 200 hostages and subsequently sparking Tel Aviv's heaviest-ever military response in the Gaza Strip.

Roughly a week after the attack, Owens fought with conservative journalist Megyn Kelly on X, wrangling over whether college students protesting for Palestinians should be "blacklisted."

Owens again sparked debate after posting a message to X earlier this month, stating her opposition to genocide. The Israeli military has faced immense criticism for its response to the Hamas attacks. According to the Associated Press, which cited the Palestinian Health Ministry, over 11,200 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip as of November 15, while thousands more have been injured and huge numbers displaced.

In an episode of her Candace Owens Podcast a few days after the controversial post titled "Am I Anti-Semitic?" Owens sat down with Jewish comedian Ami Kozak to discuss the conflict in Gaza, and again drew criticism for asserting during the conversation that there are "Muslim quarters" that dictate where Muslim citizens are allowed to live in Jerusalem.

"I grew up in my grandparents' house, my grandfather grew up in a segregated South, and so when I'm walking through Jerusalem, and you see, and they say 'these are the Muslim quarters, this is where the Muslims are allowed to live,' that doesn't feel like a bastion of freedom to me," Owens said during her show.

Kozak corrected Owens' statements, explaining that while there are ethnic communities within the city of Jerusalem, there are no specific quarters that "legally" dictate where Muslim citizens can live. Jerusalem's Old City has four quarters—Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian—and each neighborhood represents the ethnic group of most of the people who live there, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.

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