In an interview today on “The Steve Malzberg Show,” Rick Santorum claimed that American evangelicals care more about the future of Israel than do American Jews, a situation that he called a “tragedy.”

Santorum made his comments in response to a question about a typically tasteful tweet from Ann Coulter during last night’s GOP debate, in which she criticized the numerous mentions of Israel, asking, “How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?” Coulter later insisted that she was only criticizing Republican presidential candidates for pandering to evangelical voters on the issue.

Santorum said that Coulter was out of line and harming the conservative cause, adding that “Bible-believing Christians” in the U.S. “understand the significance of the heritage of the Jewish people in the Holy Land.”

He went on to say that conservative Christians are far more interested in saving Israel from President Obama and the Iranian government than are American Jews: “Interestingly enough, as you know very well, Steve, it is probably less important to the Jewish community these days than it is in the evangelical Christian community, which is another tragedy in itself.”