President Obama, whose protectionist comments about Islam long have made waves, is at the center of a new firestorm Tuesday after labeling four Jews murdered by Islamic terrorists "a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris" who were "randomly" shot by terrorists.

The White House is now insisting Obama never intended to suggest the attack itself was random, only that the victims had randomly ended up at the kosher market and had not been personally targeted.

"I believe the point that the president was trying to make is that these individuals were not specifically targeted," said Josh Earnest, the president's spokesman. "These were individuals who happened to randomly be in this deli and were shot while they were there. And that is the point that the president was making."

Earnest agreed the deli was targeted because it was Jewish, but also noted "there were people other than just Jews who were in that deli."

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"Obama's a fool for randomness," was the headline in a National Review commentary by Jonah Goldberg.

"When a theologically inspired Jew-hating terrorist runs across Paris to hold a kosher market hostage, and then executes Jews in accordance with his ideological and religious dogma, it is not random violence or street crime," he wrote.

"Period."

In an interview with the news site Vox.com, Obama was asked about how he is responding to the threat from ISIS and other radical groups.

"It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you've got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris," he said. 'It is right and appropriate for us to be vigilant and aggressive in trying to deal with that – the same way a big city mayor's got to cut the crime rate down if he wants that city to thrive."

An incredulous Goldberg commented.

"Where to begin? Well, for starters, he's again refusing to acknowledge the nature of the threat. No mention of what kind of zealots we're talking about. It's just 'zealots.' Second ... not only is he refusing to describe the true nature of the threat, his rush to euphemisms causes him to analyze and describe terrorism incorrectly – as if jihadism is analogous to street crime," Goldberg wrote.

"This is not only morally obtuse, it is strategically daft. Street crime is bad. Terrorist is bad. But street crime and terrorism are not the same thing," he wrote.

On the topic of the Muslim attacking Jews?

"There was nothing random about it, at all. There are about 310,000 Jews in the greater Paris area. Out of close to 12 million inhabitants. The odds of killing four Jews randomly are pretty daunting. But, thankfully, you don't have to do the math because [attacker] Amedy Coulibaly said openly and proudly that he was targeting Jews. No one disputes that, except for Barack Obama."

A PJ Media commentary said: "We're in a war on Muslims, folks, and Offensive General Obama has no trouble causing much offense when it comes to the Jews. … But this isn't just about the Jews. When he's not picking on Christians for their near-thousand year-old response to the war crimes of the radical Islamic world, General Obama is meeting with his War on Muslims coalition, including representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The general is right when he states this isn't a Republican/Likud versus Democrat/Labor thing. This is obviously a reality versus War on Muslims thing, and the general is doing everything he can to make sure the world knows he has 2 years left to use both Jews and Christians on the front lines of his own personal Operation Human Shield, better known as 'bunches of Random Acts of Violence.'"

At the Twitter-based news site Twitchy, the overarching conclusion was "Unreal."

Regarding the president's comments, Justin Green wrote, "This is odd."

Another said: "Newsflash, Mr. President – these weren't just 'a bunch of folks' who were 'randomly' shot 'in a deli;' they were targeted by an Islamic extremist."

"Just a bunch of random people attacking a bunch of other random people (also, remember 1095!)," wrote David Harsanyi.

Said Yair Rosenberg: "It wasn't 'random' or a 'deli.' It was Jews at a kosher supermarket."

And Benjamin Hadda said, "Hum no, Mr. President, an anti-Semitic terror attack is not 'randomly shooting a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.'"

At Bizpacreview, Joe Saunders wrote, "President Obama has hit a new low in failing to describe the evil of Islamist terrorism with a deliberate lie about some victims of the Paris terror attacks in early January.

"Randomly shoot? In a deli? … The victims of the attack on the Hypercacher supermarket weren't attacked randomly. They were murdered by an Islamist killer because they were Jews, in a Jewish place. (Not a 'deli,' Mr. President. And a place so Jewish the name means 'hyper kosher' in French.)."

He wrote that the Twitter world "exploded in scorn."

Brad Thor tweeted an image of Jews being loaded into railroad cars during the infamous purge of Germany prior to and during World War II.

"Hey look, Mr. President! Just 'a bunch of folks' randomly taken for a train ride."

BizPacReview said: "Even from a president who's spent six years spouting nonsense, it's hard to believe."

See Obama's interview: