In a revealing monologue, Steve Bannon disclosed that he had proposed an audacious plan for President Trump’s first official act after his 2017 inauguration – immediately relocating the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The former White House chief strategist said his suggestion was to skip the traditional inauguration luncheon and have Trump formally announce the historic embassy move that same day before addressing a joint session of Congress.
“My recommendation, in the transition, was that we actually move the embassy to Jerusalem right after the inauguration. Skip the lunch… do the parade, go to the White House, all the folks are there, and we actually move [the embassy], on the historic day of his inauguration, to Jerusalem right then,” Bannon stated on his War Room Battleground, late afternoon show.
“And then President Trump would go back to the Capital for a joint session of Congress and we’d then lay out our 100 day plan,” he added.
Bannon claims the bold plan was nixed due to pushback from the State Department, who he says warned of hyperbolic scenarios like “3,000 U.S. embassies” being seized and “9,000 American hostages taken” if the move happened so quickly.
“All of it was a lie, all of it was spin…The permanent State Department hates Israel, full on,” Bannon alleged.
The dramatic story was corroborated by former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who was a guest on Bannon’s show.
“I remember your whiteboard – right at the top of your list was moving the embassy on day one. What you said brought back a really present memory – I remember that well,” Friedman confirmed.
It wasn’t until over a year later in May 2018 that the embassy relocation – a longstanding priority for Israel’s government – was finally carried out by the Trump administration after repeated delays by previous presidents. The move was celebrated as historic recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Bannon’s revelations came during a special War Room episode focused on the Jewish vote heading into the 2024 presidential election. The program featured discussions on whether secular and liberal Jewish Americans may shift towards supporting Trump’s re-election due to President Biden’s policies towards Israel, which Bannon believes have been disastrous.
Left-wing critics have accused Bannon of antisemitism in the past, but he has emerged as a fierce defender of Israel during the recent conflict with Hamas militants in Gaza.
On the show, Bannon vehemently rejected the Biden administration’s support for a two-state solution, calling it catastrophic for Israel’s security. He has frequently argued that Israel is fighting not just for its own survival, but for the preservation of Western civilization and Judeo-Christian values against radical Islam. According to Bannon, Israel’s military campaigns are as much for the security of the West as they are for its own people.
Knesset member Ohad Tal, another guest, made a direct appeal to American Jews to vote for President Trump, while Ambassador Friedman called on the Biden Administration to “Let Israel be great again” and win the war against Hamas.
The special episode of Bannon’s show was co-hosted by Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, host of Eyes on Israel, a weekly 1 hour show covering Israel related issues on the Real America’s Voice network, the same network Bannon is on daily.
[5:15-6:15 in the podcast]
There are increasing indications that many Jewish voters could swing towards the Republican Party and Donald Trump in the 2024 election. A poll of New York voters in February found that 53% of Jewish respondents intended to vote for Trump, a striking shift from typical Jewish voting patterns that have leaned heavily Democratic in recent decades.
Another data point suggesting a potential Jewish rightward drift: an article in The Bulwark reported that major Jewish donors appear to be redirecting contributions toward the GOP, seemingly in response to Biden administration policies viewed as problematic on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
With Jewish voters being a crucially important demographic in swing states like Pennsylvania, even a modest Jewish shift to the GOP could profoundly impact the 2024 election outcome.
