It is easy to be cynical as a journalist. The daily diet of horrible news alone is enough to jade one’s view of the world and its inhabitants, much less its leaders.

But most reporters are idealists — they got into the business for a reason. Perhaps to tell a beautiful story, but more likely because they wanted to make an impact with their words.

Every once in a while, though, a leader comes along who brightens the countenance of even the most fallen reporter. For me, Nikki Haley’s appearance at the United Nations had that effect. From her earliest days on the job, Haley spoke the truth. She took on entrenched bureaucracies and leaders at the global body and shined a bright light on their hypocrisy.

Of course, nowhere was she more zealous than in her defense of Israel. It became her cause, her underdog to prop up, her beaten child to encourage to walk proudly. After Haley had attended her first UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, she emerged from the plenum to register her outrage.

“The Security Council is supposed to discuss how to maintain international peace and security. But at our meeting on the Middle East, the discussion was not about Hezbollah’s illegal build-up of rockets in Lebanon. It was not about the money and weapons Iran provides to terrorists. It was not about how we defeat ISIS. It was not about how we hold [Syrian president] Bashar Assad accountable for the slaughter of hundreds and thousands of civilians. No, instead, the meeting focused on criticizing Israel, the one true democracy in the Middle East.”

Really, she had no reason to love Israel as she did. Born a Sikh, growing up in South Carolina, I’m sure she had little contact with Jews or knew much about the Jewish state. But her moral compass was strong, and her sense of fairness sacrosanct. We are not likely to see another like her in our generation.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 731)