US President Donald Trump has rejected criticism of his comments accusing American Jews who vote for Democrats of "great disloyalty" and went a step further, saying any vote for a Democrat is 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 yesterday from Democratic presidential candidates and US Jewish groups after accusing American Jews who vote for Democrats of "great disloyalty."
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 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 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, US Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who were denied entry to Israel last week after Mr Trump pressured the Israeli government.
"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 yesterday, 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 haven o 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 last night.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the current front-runner to challenge Mr Trump in November 2020, called the president's comments "insulting and inexcusable" and urged him to stop dividing Americans.
"The Jewish people don't need to prove their loyalty to you, @realDonaldTrump - or to anyone else," said Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke, a former US congressman from Texas who has called Mr Trump a racist over his immigration rhetoric.
Roughly 70% 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 yesterday.
Anti-Defamation League leader Jonathan Greenblatt said "It's unclear who @POTUS is 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.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which 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 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 today, accusing her on Twitter of wanting to cut off aid to Israel, a US ally that has long enjoyed bipartisan support.
