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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

The war between Israel and Hamas is testing the Republican Party’s isolationist shift

FILE - Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks with reporters after signing papers to get on the Republican presidential primary ballot at the New Hampshire Statehouse, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in Concord, N.H. The Republican Party’s White House hopefuls are offering conflicting messages on the growing foreign policy challenges. A presidential election that has long been centered on domestic kitchen-table issues is suddenly shifting its focus abroad with the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
FILE - Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks with reporters after signing papers to get on the Republican presidential primary ballot at the New Hampshire Statehouse, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in Concord, N.H. The Republican Party’s White House hopefuls are offering conflicting messages on the growing foreign policy challenges. A presidential election that has long been centered on domestic kitchen-table issues is suddenly shifting its focus abroad with the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File) FILE - Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks with reporters after signing papers to get on the Republican presidential primary ballot at the New Hampshire Statehouse, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in Concord, N.H. The Republican Party’s White House hopefuls are offering conflicting messages on the growing foreign policy challenges. A presidential election that has long been centered on domestic kitchen-table issues is suddenly shifting its focus abroad with the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)


ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Nikki Haley vowed to stand with Israel “every step of the way.” She promised to “decimate” the Iranian economy. And she called for continued funding for Ukraine as it fights to repel the Russian invasion.

“It’s a dangerous world right now,” Haley told Republican primary voters gathered inside New Hampshire’s American Legion Post No. 7 as a new war raged in the Middle East. “And this is gonna get messier before it gets better.”

Less than 24 hours later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told New Hampshire business leaders that the United States should stop funding Ukraine until there is a clear strategy. He was more focused on what he saw as a threat posed by foreign nationals at the U.S.-Mexico border. And Israel, he said, has a right to defend itself.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a lot we even need to do militarily,” DeSantis said of the war between Israel with Hamas. “We may have to provide some additional support like we’ve traditionally done, but I think mostly it’s just the moral clarity to say, ‘They don’t have to live like this.’”