Marco Rubio at the 2024 Republican National Convention on July 16, 2024 (Maxim Elramsisy/Shutterstock.com)
Steve Bannon, MAGA podcaster and former chief strategist to President Donald Trump, slammed Secretary of State Marco Rubio Monday for a photo-op Rubio took when visiting Israel in September, according to The Daily Beast.
Rubio's visit to Jerusalem came "on the heels of Israel’s shock airstrikes against Qatar, which lit a fire under the Trump administration’s efforts to end the brutal war in Gaza," reports The Daily Beast, and it included a stop at the famous Wailing Wall, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "welcomed him with open arms."
Bannon's relationship with Israel is complex and has shifted over time, reflecting internal divisions within the American right.
While his media platform has historically been pro-Israel, Bannon himself has made critical and controversial statements, especially recently, suggesting a turn towards a more "America First" nationalist perspective.
Needless to say, the photo of Rubio at the Wailing Wall did not go over well with Bannon, who, on Monday's episode of his podcast, "scolded Rubio for failing to send 'a message' that the U.S. would not tolerate any more surprises," The Daily Beast says.
“When Netanyahu fired on Qatar… he had enough, he sent Marco over... to give it to him with both barrels, [to say] ‘This is not acceptable, you’re not going to do this,’” Bannon said.
And despite Trump blasting Qatar as "funders of terrorism" in his first term, he took a private jet as a gift from them and issued a "watered down" version of NATO’s Article 5 collective defense agreement, which says an attack on one of our NATO allies is an attack on all, adding that an attack on Qatar is an attack on America.
Bannon was not pleased.
"And what did Rubio do? Posed at the Wailing Wall with a yarmulke,” Bannon scoffed. “If you want a greater Israel project, we’re not gonna stop you. We’re just not gonna support it,” he added.