Jeremiah Wright's anti-Semitic comments draw ire (OneNewsNow.com)

Jeremiah Wright's anti-Semitic comments draw ire (OneNewsNow.com)

A leading Christian Zionist says if President Obama wants to be consistent in his condemnation of anti-Semitism, he should speak out against the latest anti-Semitic rant by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

Pastor Wright told the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia, on Tuesday that "them Jews" were keeping him from speaking to President Obama. He also criticized the president for not sending a U.S. delegation to the World Conference on Racism, saying Obama chose not to for fear of offending Jews and Israel.

Pro-Israel activist Gary Bauer, who serves on the executive board of Christians United for Israel, says Wright's comments were yet another jarring reminder that he is an "open, unrepentant anti-Semite of the worst kind."

"This is a man who has serious problems and is obviously a hater -- and the mystery remains why in the world our president and his family would have stayed in that church for so many years," he contends.

Although the White House would not comment on Wright's incendiary remarks, including his claim that Zionists were carrying out "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, Bauer says President Obama needs to be asked how much of his Mideast policy was formulated by the two decades of teaching he received from Wright.

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"Certainly when I see the president suggesting that Israel cannot build homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria, it raises serious concerns in my mind about what in the world is motivating [him] to take such a position," he admits.

According to Bauer, if Jeremiah Wright is so concerned about "ethnic cleansing," he needs to look no further than Gaza, where every Jew was forced to leave as they turned that land over to the Palestinians. Bauer is concerned that the Obama administration may be suggesting that no Jews will be allowed to live in the West Bank as that land is also turned over to the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Wright issued an apology on Thursday, saying he "meant no harm or ill-will to the American Jewish community" or Obama's administration.