Steve Bannon’s Condition to Support Israel Aid

Steve Bannon, a far-right political activist and host of the “ultraMAGA” podcast WarRoom, said on Thursday that no aid should be sent from the U.S. to Israel or Ukraine until America deals with its own security at the southern border.

Bannon, who served former President Donald Trump as a White House chief strategist for the first seven months of his presidency, took a stance on President Joe Biden’s nearly $106 billion aid package, which would need to be passed by Congress.

“No Money for Ukraine, No Money for Israel. UNTIL we STOP the Invasion of America…” Bannon wrote in a post on Gettr, a conservative social media site.

In his post, Bannon linked to a Daily Mail article, which reported that a caravan of approximately 7,000 migrants in Mexico is heading north to the U.S.

Newsweek attempted to reach out to WarRoom via email for comment from Bannon, but its mailboxes were full.

Biden’s supplemental request to Congress includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine in its ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion and $14.3 billion for Israel’s war with Hamas after the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on October 7. An additional $13.6 billion would go toward securing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, has voiced his support for the president’s initiative.

“We have big power competition from China and Russia, and we still have terrorism problems, as the Israelis have certainly experienced in a brutal way in the last week,” McConnell said on CBS. “I think that requires a worldwide approach rather than trying to take parts of it out. It’s all connected.”

McConnell did acknowledge on Tuesday that Ukraine funding is looking increasingly contingent on bipartisan support for legislation regarding the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Democrats will have to accept a really serious U.S.-Mexico border protection bill in order to get our people on board for a comprehensive approach,” McConnell said.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, told Punchbowl News, “Eventually, you’ve got to have the border fight,” He added: “I’m not going to support any of this stuff until I know what’s going to happen with our own border.”

Graham’s office told Newsweek via email on Thursday that the senator “believes we need border security along with Israel and Ukraine funding.”

“Biden’s funding is basically to help process people come into the country even quicker. Our goal is to stop them from coming, to stop the abuse of the asylum system,” Graham’s office added. “Even the Mayor of New York City has said the current immigration influx will ‘destroy New York City.'”

Meanwhile, Senator James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, is leading a group of Republicans and some Democrats who are attempting to write a border-related bill that could get the 60 votes needed to get the bill to a vote.

Newsweek reached out to McConnell and Lankford via email for comment.

Bannon also pinned a post from Wednesday that read: “Simple Plan Aggressively Executed—Vote Down ALL Ukraine Funding—ALL ; Shut Down the ENTIRE GOVERNMENT UNTIL THE BORDER IS SEALED —Never Compromise, Never Back Down.”

In the post, he linked to a post on X, formerly Twitter, from Stephen Miller, a former senior advisor to Trump.

Miller wrote in the post: “As strongly as I oppose military aid for Ukraine, the right chess move for House GOP is to pass a Ukraine bill whose funds are inaccessible unless the border invasion is halted. This leaves Schumer/Biden 2 (and only 2) choices: end support for Ukraine or end the border invasion.”

Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson has opposed Biden’s aid package and pushed a standalone $14.3 aid package for Israel, which will hit the House floor on Thursday.

Johnson’s bill has received criticism from some Senate Republicans, including Graham who said it would be a “huge mistake” to separate funding for Ukraine and Israel.