US president Donald Trump beat back criticism of his comments accusing American Jews who vote for Democrats of "great disloyalty" and went a step further on Wednesday, saying any vote for a Democrat was a vote against Israel.
"I think that if you vote for a Democrat you are very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people," Mr Trump told reporters as he left the White House.
The Republican president drew outrage on Tuesday from Democratic presidential candidates and US Jewish groups after accusing American Jews who vote for Democrats of “great disloyalty”.
“Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words. “President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world...and the Jewish people in Israel love him....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019
.....all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he’s good for everyone in America who wants a job.” Wow! @newsmax @foxandfriends @OANN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019
Critics said Mr Trump's comments echoed an anti-Semitic trope accusing American Jews of dual loyalties to the United States and Israel.
Mr Trump initially responded on Twitter on Wednesday by quoting a conservative columnist as saying American Jews "don't know what they're doing". The Republican president thanked the commentator, Wayne Allyn Root, who likened Mr Trump to the "king of Israel" and said Israelis "love him like he is the second coming of God".
The comments about Israel followed Mr Trump's attacks on a group of first-term Democrats in Congress, House of Representatives members Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who were denied entry to Israel last week after Mr Trump pressured the government there.
"Where has the Democratic Party gone? Where have they gone where they're defending these two people over the state of Israel? And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty," Mr Trump said on Tuesday, without specifying what or who they were being disloyal to.
Those remarks sparked a swift backlash.
"My message to Trump: I am a proud Jewish person and I have no concerns about voting Democratic," Senator Bernie Sanders, a leader in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and an independent, wrote in a Twitter post late on Tuesday.
Outrage
Former vice president Joe Biden, the front-runner to challenge Mr Trump in November 2020, called the president's comments "insulting and inexcusable" and urged him to stop dividing Americans.
Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke, a former US congressman from Texas who has called Mr Trump a racist over his immigration rhetoric, said in a tweet: "The Jewish people don't need to prove their loyalty to you, @realDonaldTrump – or to anyone else."
American Jews lean Democratic. Roughly 70 per cent of American Jews have typically supported Democratic candidates in recent US presidential elections.
J Street, a liberal lobbying group based in Washington, was among the many US Jewish organisations that expressed outrage or alarm at Mr Trump’s comments.
“It is dangerous and shameful for President Trump to attack the large majority of the American Jewish community as unintelligent and ‘disloyal,’” the group said on Tuesday.
Anti-Defamation League leader Jonathan Greenblatt said it was unclear who Mr Trump was claiming Jews would be disloyal to, "but charges of disloyalty have long been used to attack Jews".
The American Jewish Committee called Mr Trump's comments "shockingly divisive".
"American Jews – like all Americans – have a range of political views and policy priorities. His assessment of their knowledge or 'loyalty', based on their party preference, is inappropriate, unwelcome, and downright dangerous," said committee chief executive David Harris.
The Republican Jewish Committee sided with Mr Trump, saying, "President Trump is right, it shows a great deal of disloyalty to oneself to defend a party that protects/emboldens people that hate you for your religion."
Mr Trump is popular in Israel. He delighted many Israelis – while appalling other world powers – by recognising Jerusalem as their capital, moving the US embassy there, withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and recognising Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.
Attacks
The office of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has particularly close ties with the Trump administration, declined to comment on his remarks.
Israeli president Reuven Rivlin wrote on Twitter that he had spoken with House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top US elected Democrat, about strong US-Israel relations that he said were "not dependent on the links with either party".
Mr Trump has for weeks been attacking Ms Tlaib and Ms Omar, accusing them of hostility to Israel and anti-Semitism. He repeated his attacks on Ms Tlaib on Wednesday, accusing her on Twitter of wanting to cut off aid to Israel, a US ally that has long enjoyed bipartisan support.
In February, Ms Omar, who along with Ms Tlaib supports a boycott of Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians, said US Jews had divided loyalties. She apologised for those remarks after being widely condemned by many in her own party.
Most Democrats disagree with Ms Tlaib’s and Ms Omar’s views on Israel, but Mr Trump’s attacks on them have rallied support for the two within their party. – Reuters