(Mirror.)

Neither the gesture nor the rebuke fazed Israel365, whose founder calls it “Israel’s voice in the MAGA movement,” and which caters to an evangelical Christian audience. On Saturday night, the group is hosting an event in Dallas where, it confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, it will proudly fete Bannon as the guest of honor.

Bannon — whose podcast, “War Room,” commands considerable influence among pro-Trump diehards — will also deliver a speech and answer questions. The event is hosted by Israel365 Action, the group’s advocacy arm, which is running a slate in the upcoming elections for the World Zionist Congress.

“We are grateful to Steve Bannon for using his voice and his War Room platform to help the Jewish State achieve Total Victory and are proud to honor him this Saturday night as a Warrior for Israel,” Rabbi Tuly Weisz, Israel365’s founder, wrote in an email to JTA.

In a subsequent message, he wrote, “Anyone who listens to Bannon, knows that he is a Warrior for Israel, and is frequently even criticized for being the most pro-Israel voice in the movement.”

Even as Israel365 is rebuffing those who call Bannon an antisemite, the event has sparked some local controversy. It was originally set to take place at a local Orthodox Jewish day school, Akiba Yavneh Academy, but at least one parent complained and the school canceled.

“Appalled and embarrassed that my children’s school is the location this event is taking place,” the parent, who asked to remain anonymous, wrote on Torah Trumps Hate, a Facebook group largely of Orthodox Jews who oppose Trump. “How any Jewish group is comfortable aligning with antisemite Steve Bannon is crazy to me.”

The parent praised the school for cancelling. Akiba Yavneh did not respond to JTA requests for comment on Friday, but Weisz confirmed that the school canceled the event booking shortly after Bannon was announced as a speaker.

The school is not the only institution to distance itself from Bannon. His gesture at the conservative confab CPAC last week drew criticism from Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, which called out his “long and disturbing history of stoking antisemitism and hate, threatening violence, and empowering extremists.”

The blowback extended beyond the Jewish community and into Bannon’s own political camp. Far-right French leader Jordan Bardella canceled his own CPAC appearance because of Bannon’s gesture, which Bardella called “a gesture alluding to Nazi ideology.” Bannon denied it was a Nazi salute and said Bardella “wets himself like a little child.”

The gesture was the latest one by a pro-Trump figure after Elon Musk, the billionaire Trump adviser, made a similar salute at an inauguration event in January, drawing widespread criticism.

Another wave of criticism came in response to Bannon’s subsequent statement that “the number-one enemy to the people in Israel are American Jews that do not support Israel and do not support MAGA.”