“And you’re going to be my biggest supporters because you’d be out of business in about 15 minutes if they get in.”
The Jewish Democratic Council of America said the remarks were “deeply offensive”.
“We strongly denounce these vile and bigoted remarks in which the president – once again – used antisemitic stereotypes to characterise Jews as driven by money and insufficiently loyal to Israel. He even had the audacity to suggest that Jews ‘have no choice’ but to support him.”
The president’s supporters pointed out that Mr Trump had also used the speech to emphasise his support for Israel and to criticise the Israel boycott movement BDS.
But Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, said this was “essentially undone by his own trafficking of antisemitic tropes: questioning American Jews’ loyalty to Israel and asserting that Jewish voters only care about their wealth.”
The American Jewish Committee advocacy group said: “surely there must be a better way to appeal to American Jewish voters, as you just did in Florida, than by money references that feed age-old and ugly stereotypes.
“Let’s stay off that mine-infested road.”
Mr Trump has previously expressed a view that his pro-Israel policies should translate into Jewish votes for his Republican Party.
In August, he said Jews who voted for the Democrats were “disloyal” to the Jewish people and Israel.
