Steve Bannon reportedly texted a friend on May 3 about ditching upcoming meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, “I’m not going to breathe the same air as that terrorist.”

By i24NEWS

United States President Donald Trump’s outgoing chief strategist boycotted a meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in May, branding him a “terrorist”, Vanity Fair reported on Sunday.

Ex-WH Chief Strategist Steve Bannon (R) & ex-WH Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. (L) – Photo: Gage Skidmore\Wikimedia

“I’m not going to breathe the same air as that terrorist,” Steve Bannon reportedly texted a friend on May 3, when the Palestinian Authority President was in town to meet his newly minted US counterpart.

Bannon, who departed the White House last week in a mutual agreement with the President and his chief of staff, reportedly elected to stay home rather than go into work and have to make excuses for his no-show.

Among other claims about Bannon published in the American magazine also reveals that the former banker is deeply hurt by accusations he is anti-Semitic, a claim frequently leveled at him last year, largely based on claims made by his ex-wife in divorce proceedings.

“It’s one of the attacks he takes most personally because it’s not true,” an employee of Breitbart, the right-wing media organization he runs, told Vanity Fair. 

Bannon, and Breitbart, frequently attack those he sees as “globalists” and last month his followers launched a blistering campaign to take down the National Security Adviser HR McMaster, including the use of anti-Semitic cartoons. Bannon has reportedly denied being behind the push to oust the general.

Bannon also fiercely lobbied Trump to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in the face of opposition from Trump’s son-in-law, senior adviser and point man on Middle East peace, Jared Kushner.

Allies of the former chief strategist and senior Trump campaign official told the publication that he advocated a ‘tougher line’ against the Palestinians.

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http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/153570-170822-bannon-boycotted-meeting-with-abbas-pushed-for-embassy-move-report