Report: Bannon pushed for embassy in Jerusalem

(JNS.org)-In the wake of former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon's ousting, reports detailing his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have started to emerge. 

Bannon reportedly aggressively petitioned President Donald Trump to relocate the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but was blocked by Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Vanity Fair reported Sunday.

Trump promised to relocate the embassy during his election campaign in 2016, but he signed a six-month waiver June 1 to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv-in line with every president's actions since Congress passed legislation calling on the U.S. to move the embassy in 1995.

Bannon also reportedly lobbied Trump to take a more aggressive stance regarding Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. When Abbas visited the White House in May, Bannon boycotted the meeting, sending a text message to a friend stating that he would not "breathe the same air as that terrorist," according to Vanity Fair.

With Bannon's departure, his alleged West Wing rival, Kushner, and others are slated to have greater influence over Trump's decision-making regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and overall foreign policy.