U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack faced fresh condemnation from two Senate Republicans and conservative influencers for a series of comments he made at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey this weekend in which he repeatedly criticized Israel and praised Ankara.

The U.S. envoy has faced criticism and scrutiny from fellow Republicans previously for his perceived closeness with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government, comments critical of Israel and more.

In response to comments by Barrack claiming that the current ceasefire in Lebanon “is so delicate because everybody has been equally untrustworthy” — referring to both Israel and Hezbollah — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he “respectfully and strongly disagree[s].”

Barrack said at the conference there needs to be “a path with Hezbollah, and that path has to be not killing Hezbollah” — a group that the U.S. has long designated as a terrorist organization and has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans. He further said that Iran and Hezbollah both should be involved in talks to end the fighting in Lebanon.

“I always get in trouble because Hezbollah, in American parlance, and most of the West, is a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Hezbollah, in Lebanon, is also a political organization,” Barrack added.

The ambassador repeatedly criticized provisions in past ceasefire agreements that allowed Israel to take action against Hezbollah in its own self-defense, which he argued made the agreements weak and functionally nonbinding on Israel. He further dismissed the idea that the Lebanese Armed Forces would act to disarm Hezbollah, as is required under the terms of the current and past ceasefires.

“The majority of the Lebanese Armed Forces are not going to go shoot their cousins, especially at a time where Israel is bombarding them, which only gives efficacy to the reason Hezbollah should exist, to protect itself from Israel. So what’s the answer? The answer has got to be underlying prosperity,” Barrack said. “When you have a sovereign nation like Iran, which is supporting a militia, you cannot get rid of that militia by killing them.”

He said he believes that bringing Lebanon into the Abraham Accords, and working closely with Turkey, is the long-term answer to addressing Hezbollah.

“The brilliance of [the ceasefire agreement] is it stopped senseless killing and President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio stepping in strongly with Israel and saying, ‘We need a timeout,’” Barrack continued. “Everybody is in atrophy over this idiotic war. So will the ceasefire stick? What will we do? It’s baby steps. Everybody’s rushing to fill in those pieces.”

Barrack also criticized the Israeli government’s posture toward Turkey. “I think this rhetoric is going to go away,” he said, referring to Israel’s view of Turkey as a rising threat and aspiring regional hegemon. “Turkey is not a country to be messed with.”

The ambassador said that, in his personal opinion, “the smartest thing that Israel could do is to entice and embrace Turkey” to join the U.S.-led international stabilization force in Gaza, a prospect that Israel has resoundingly rejected as a result of ongoing Turkish hostility and Ankara’s relationship to Hamas leaders.

Barrack also praised Turkey for refusing to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and for serving as a mediator with the group. “It could have never happened had they agreed with us that Hamas was a Foreign Terrorist Organization and you have to exclude them,” Barrack said, referring to the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Barrack broadly dismissed the notion that antisemitism is a widespread problem in the Arab world or elsewhere, arguing that he grew up as a “Lebanese Catholic in a very Jewish neighborhood, everybody’s done business with Jews — that’s not the issue. Zionism was a question as to a definition.”

Barrack said that he and Trump believe that Turkey should be accepted into the F-35 fighter jet program — downplaying Ankara’s decision to buy a Russian S-400 missile-defense system, which led to U.S. sanctions that still prevent Turkey from rejoining the F-35 program. He also brushed off the long-running Turkish provocations against Greece.

“Sanctions, again, in my humble opinion — they don’t work, because what happens is the sanctioned country, they become so smart, so ingenious, that they figure out ways around the sanctions and alliances with other nations that don’t serve the U.S. benefit,” Barrack said, celebrating efforts by the Trump administration to ease sanctions on Turkey.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) responded on X that he remains committed to blocking Turkey from receiving the F-35 or other U.S. defense systems.

“Turkey, the country that funds Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, hates Israel, loves Russia and Iran … good luck getting the F35, F16, and any other American made defense platform,” Scott said. “I told Erdoğan in 2018 and I tell him again: you’re NOT getting the F35.”

Conservative commentator Mark Levin, who has repeatedly criticized Barrack, said that the ambassador “sounds like an Erdogan mouthpiece.”

“Will somebody give this wrecking ball Barrack the hook. He’s THE worst,” Levin said in another X post, and called Barrack “poison” and “awful” in other posts.

Barrack was critical of Israel’s interventions in Syria, which Israel has said were an effort to protect Druze minorities from ongoing atrocities by government-aligned forces. He suggested Israel was not legitimately concerned with protecting the Druze and said that Syria was “brilliant” for not engaging against Israel’s “constant” incursions.

He repeatedly lavished praise on the new Syrian government, and on the Turkish government for backing it.

“My bet is we’ll get to a non-aggression and normalization agreement with Syria [and Israel] sooner than Lebanon,” Barrack said.

Barrack additionally declared, repeating past rhetoric that earned criticism from U.S. lawmakers and analysts, that the only system of government that has worked in the Middle East is “powerful leadership regimes — either benevolent monarchies, a kind of monarchial republic,” and that “countries that have put on this cloak of democracy … have failed,” referring to countries that implemented reforms following the Arab Spring.

He said that Israel’s best path forward would be “aligning its interests with the Gulf, with these strong civilizations.”