US President Donald Trump says Democrats in Congress have become an “anti-Israel” and “anti-Jewish” party (MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Friday that a recent congressional vote condemning bigotry shows the opposition Democrats have become an “anti-Israel” and “anti-Jewish” party.

“I thought yesterday’s vote by the House was disgraceful,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party and anti-Jewish party.”

The Republican president spoke a day after the vote on a resolution originally intended to directly condemn anti-Semitism following controversial comments by a Muslim Democratic congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, that were deemed anti-Semitic and offensive by many colleagues.

The issue caused a deep rift in the party, with several lawmakers seeking to include language condemning other forms of bigotry, and expressing concerns about a measure that singles out Omar.

Ultimately, the resolution was revised to became a broader anti-hate measure, with some of the Republicans who voted against it complaining that the original version had been watered down.

“If you get an honest answer from politicians, they thought it was a disgrace,” Trump said.

As a candidate and president, Trump has made comments seen as inflaming racial and ethnic tensions.

He sparked a firestorm by saying there were “very fine people on both sides” at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, when demonstrators chanted “Jews will not replace us.”

Trump proclaims himself as Israel’s closest ally. He has boasted about moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and has forged a close alliance with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But he has also courted controversy with the Jewish community, and has come dangerously close to trafficking in age-old tropes about money that anti-Semites have used to attack Jews for centuries.

Delivering an address in 2015 during his presidential campaign, Trump told members of the Republican Jewish Coalition that “you’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money.”

He was drawing a contrast with fellow candidate and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who had raked in vast amounts of donations.

“That’s why you don’t want to give me money, okay? But that’s okay,” Trump went on. “You want to control your own politician.”

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