Bill O'Reilly denied claims that Obama is antisemitic during his interview with Fox News' Andrea Tantaros. Photo: Screenshot.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday defended President Barack Obama against claims of prejudice against Jews, insisting instead that the US leader is merely opposed to the policies of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“If Israel elects a liberal prime minister on March 17, I think President Obama would be very happy. I think he would applaud a liberal leader of that country,” O’Reilly said. “I believe is he not antisemitic, which is ‘I hate you because you are Jewish.’ I believe he is anti-Netanyahu, who is a hawk.”

“[Obama] believes, in my opinion, that the Israelis under Netanyahu and other right wingers are oppressors. They oppress the Palestinians… So, I think he is wrong, but I don’t think is he is antisemitic,” O’Reilly added.

The O’Reilly Factor host was responding to a question raised by Fox News’ Andrea Tantaros who, twice over the last week, asked, “Is this White House antisemitic?”

Tantaros, who appeared as a guest on O’Reilly’s show, alleged that a person doesn’t need to “hate” Jews to be antisemitic, but rather just be “not supportive” of them. She added, “If this administration was speaking this way to blacks, to women, to Hispanics, we would be asking the same question about that.”

In conversation with O’Reilly, Tantaros said she hadn’t actually called President Obama “antisemitic,” but just posed the question. She then listed a number of items she believes the Obama administration has “done against Israel.” Tantaros also said the president “is friends with people, who I think, could be considered antisemitic.”

Watch Bill O’Reilly defend President Obama below: