(CNN) Republican Rep. Steve King suggested Friday that some American Jews feel like "Democrats first and Jewish second."

"Here is what I don't understand, I don't understand how Jews in America can be Democrats first and Jewish second and support Israel along the line of just following their President," King, a hardline conservative from Iowa, said Friday on Boston Herald Radio

"It says this, they're knee-jerk supporters of the President's policy," King said.

As a Republican from Iowa, King has met with virtually every Republican considering a 2016 presidential run, hosting the first cattle call of 2016 Republican hopefuls in Iowa in January.

King was responding to a question about the nearly 60 Democrats, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who decided to boycott Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress earlier this month. Netanyahu came to Congress in defiance of the White House to sound the alarm over the Obama administration's negotiations with Iran, stressing that President Barack Obama was preparing to reach a "bad deal" on Iran's nuclear program.