Jewish groups praise Limbaugh

"There has been controversy recently over statements made by radiotalk-show host Rush Limbaugh about Jewish voting patterns, politicalties and the recent Massachusetts election. We are deeply dismayed bythe unfounded criticism of the talk show commentator's observations,"read a statement issued Wednesday by several Jewish organizations,including American Friends of Likud, the news monitoring group CAMERA,Emunah of America,  the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs,National Council of Young Israel, Religious Zionists of America andZ-Street. 

"While one may agree or disagree with Mr. Limbaugh's views on manysubjects, his outspoken support for Israel has been eloquent, informedand undeniable. Moreover, in commentary on the Jewish people, he hasbeen nothing short of a philo-Semite. We are grateful for his strongand singular voice on these issues," concluded the statement.

During a Jan. 20 broadcast following Republican Scott Brown's upsetvictory in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, Limbaugh wondered ifJews -- nearly 80 percent of whom backed Barack Obama in 2008 -- werehaving second thoughts about the president.

"There are a lot of people, when you say banker, people thinkJewish. People who have prejudice, people who have, you know -- what'sthe best way to say -- a little prejudice about them," Limbaugh said,according to the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters. "To somepeople, 'banker' is code word for Jewish; and guess who Obama isassaulting? He's assaulting bankers. He's assaulting money people. Anda lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there's-- if there's starting to be some buyer's remorse there."

Limbaugh's remarks were criticized by the Anti-Defamation League last week, which called them "offensive and inappropriate."