Former Republican US presidential candidate Nikki Haley has sparked an online debate by writing something on a mortar shell during a visit to Israel’s northern border.

Nikki Haley, the former Republican US presidential candidate, wrote “Finish them! America loves Israel” on a mortar shell during a visit to Israel’s northern border.

This sparked a heated debate on social networks. Although it was clearly referring to the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, many criticised the slogan as if it was intended for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli journalist wrote on X (formerly Twitter) about Haley’s action on Tuesday: “What a queen!” A senior member of an Israeli-Palestinian peace organization, however, wrote that Haley had visited Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and then signed a bomb.

“Simply disgusting. Can you please take them back?” he wrote to the Americans. “We already have (the far-right police minister Itamar) Ben-Gvir and we don’t need your dirty, death-promoting politicians on top of that.”

Since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, there have been daily military confrontations between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militia and other groups in the border area between Israel and Lebanon. There have been deaths on both sides.

The former US ambassador to the United Nations had a week-long duel with Donald Trump in the Republicans’ internal primaries for the presidential nomination, but had no chance and finally admitted defeat. This means that the US election campaign will see a new duel between Trump and Biden, who wants to run again in the election on November 5 and has no real competition in his party. Haley recently said she would vote for Trump. However, Trump had ruled out her former rival as a running mate.

As part of her visit to Israel, Haley also visited Israeli border towns on the edge of the Gaza Strip that were badly damaged during the Hamas massacre on October 7. She also met survivors. In the border town of Sderot, she told journalists on Monday: “What happened on October 7 is pure evil and must never be forgotten.”

The German Chancellor and the French President have one last chance to get the Franco-German engine running again. But instead they are setting off a fireworks display of self-promotion and showing a lack of motivation.

After the flood in the Ahr Valley, the public prosecutor’s office has closed the investigation against the former district administrator Jürgen Pföhler. Cologne criminal law professor Thomas Weigend has serious doubts about the decision. In an exclusive analysis, he comes to the conclusion that the former district administrator belongs in court.