Michele Bachmann: American Jewish Community 'Sold Out Israel'

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has very strong feelings about Israel, and she's disappointed that American Jews don't have the same feelings she does.

In a Monday interview with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Bachmann chastised American Jewish organizations for backing off stronger sanctions against Iran over its nuclear weapons program. Right Wing Watch picked up on the congresswoman's comments Tuesday.

"The Jewish community gave him their votes, their support, their financial support and as recently as last week, 48 Jewish donors who are big contributors to the president wrote a letter to the Democrat senators in the U.S. Senate to tell them to not advance sanctions against Iran," Bachmann told Perkins.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby, changed course earlier this month and came out against a Senate vote on additional Iran sanctions.

"This is clearly against Israel’s best interest. What has been shocking has been seeing and observing Jewish organizations who it appears have made it their priority to support the political priority and the political ambitions of the President over the best interests of Israel," Bachmann added. "So in some respects, they sold out Israel."

Seventy percent of Jewish American voters picked President Barack Obama when he ran for reelection in 2012. J Street, a pro-peace lobbying group that supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, commissioned a poll that year which found that just 10 percent of Jewish American voters identified Israel as one of their top two voting issue priorities.