Steve Bannon Slams Marco Rubio Over Israel Photo-Op

President Donald Trump loyalist Steve Bannon blasted Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday for his not-so-tough love on Israel.

Rubio’s September 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.

That didn’t sit well with Bannon, a key figure in the “America First” movement and a former Trump advisor.

During a Monday episode of his The War Room podcast, Bannon scolded Rubio for failing to send “a message” that the U.S. would not tolerate any more surprises.

Netanyahu, Rubio, and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visit the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in the old city of Jerusalem. NATHAN HOWARD/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

“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.

He highlighted Trump’s decision to issue Qatar a watered-down version of NATO’s Article 5 collective defense agreement, despite having blasted the country as “funders of terrorism” during his first term.

“Think about that,” Bannon said.

Article 5 of the alliance’s founding treaty says that an attack against one NATO ally is considered an attack against all allies. In an unprecedented move, Trump’s executive order declared that any attack on Qatar would also be seen as a “threat to the peace and security of the United States.”

“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.

US President Donald Trump (L) and his then Senior Counselor to the President Stephen Bannon in 2017. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Bannon’s criticism comes after Axios reported that those close to Trump—who has long championed an “America First” agenda—fear his desperate push to be recognized for ending conflicts abroad is overshadowing domestic concerns more important to voters.

“Voters reward winners, and Trump is a winner,” an unnamed Trump adviser told Axios. “But I’d be lying if I said none of us wish he would talk a little more about the economy and things back home.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene has strongly allied herself to President Donald Trump until recently, speaking out on the U.S.’s involvement in foreign affairs. MEGAN VARNER/REUTERS/Megan Varner

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime MAGA loyalist, has also become increasingly critical of Trump and GOP leadership, and recently blasted the president’s second-term foreign policy focus as a betrayal of his “America First” message.

“It’s a revolving door at the White House of foreign leaders when Americans are, you know, screaming from their lungs,” Greene told Axios. “If me saying those things is considered breaking with my party, then what is the Republican party? I thought we were America First.”