Former Trump strategist and a key voice in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) orbit, Steve Bannon, has delivered a scathing broadside against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, questioning whether Israel was dictating American foreign policy as President Donald Trump weighs military action against Iran.
"Who in the hell are you to lecture the American people?" Bannon said on his widely followed War Room podcast, referring to Netanyahu.
"Who are you to lecture the American people? The American people are not going to tolerate it. Not going to put up with it."
Bannon, an influential voice in the American right, who served as chief strategist during Donald Trump's first administration, was seen entering the White House on Thursday morning for a reported lunch with the president.
He has emerged as one of the loudest critics of US support for Israel's military campaign, which has escalated alongside fears that Trump may green-light direct strikes on Iran.
Alongside right-wing firebrands like Tucker Carlson, Bannon has warned that Trump risks shattering the "America First" base that helped power his rise and could lose the presidency if he’s seen as starting a new Middle East war.
"President Trump may come to that conclusion, but it's not something he would just say… 'Oh yeah, let's go bomb ‘em and take care of it.' He's going to do it because he's got to weigh the options now that you've gotten us into it," Bannon said.
"Quit coming to us to finish it," he added, directing his remarks squarely at Netanyahu.
'We just got out of 20 years of it'
Bannon accused the Israeli prime minister of sabotaging previous negotiations over Iran's nuclear deal to push his own agenda of "regime change and regime destruction."
"That's what he was pitching the other night," Bannon said.
"That's exactly where we are, and people should be truthful with each other, particularly in these tough decisions. That's what allies do. Allies don't manipulate and don't inextricably draw people into situations from which the other party has to get them out of."
Netanyahu has defended his stance, warning MAGA-aligned critics of intervention:
"Today, it's Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it's New York... I understand 'America First.' I don't understand 'America Dead.'"
But that message has sparked deep divisions inside Trump's base and fury from key voices on the right who see the war as political suicide.
"It's just propaganda, propaganda, propaganda and Lindsey Graham, Lindsey Graham, Lindsey Graham," Bannon fumed, referring to the pro-war senator from South Carolina.
Before Israel launched its aggression, Bannon said he urged Netanyahu to "read the room" and rethink his threats.
"It's gonna drag us into a regional war," Bannon said.
"We just got out of 20 years of it….but…if they go it alone, it's the end of the American relationship with Israel. It's just the end of it."
