US President Donald Trump on Tuesday decried anti-Semitism, calling recent threats against Jewish community centers “horrible” and a “reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.”

Reacting to the desecration of 170 Jewish graves in St. Louis, Missouri, and to a series of bomb threats against several Jewish community centers across the country, he declared : “The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.”

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had called on Trump to speak out against anti-Semitic violence, an issue he side-stepped at his press conference last week.

The American president told MSNBC that “anti-Semitism is horrible and it’s gonna stop and it has to stop.” He added that the racial divide in America is “age-old” and speculated that “something” is going on that prevents the country from fully healing.

“Sometimes it gets better and then it busts apart. But we wanna have it get very much better, get unified and stay together,” Trump said. “But you’ve seen it where oftentimes it’ll get much better and then it blows up.”

Earlier, World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder said that ‘’American Jews are worried’’, warning that anti-Semitism in the United States was on the rise and calling on the authorities on all levels to take appropriate measures to combat it.

‘’American Jews are worried. It is shocking to see that Jewish sites are once again being targeted by criminals. Even in the United States, the country with the strongest Jewish community in the Diaspora, anti-Semitism is alive and kicking.’’

“We sincerely hope that there will be a strong and decisive reaction by the authorities at all political levels to combat it. This is not merely a problem for the Jewish community, it’s a problem for America as a whole,” Lauder said.

He urged law enforcement authorities to do their utmost to apprehend the perpetrators and to bring them to justice.

The WJC president added: "It is equally important that political leaders in Washington and on the state and local levels speak out and condemn such vile acts. I know that President Trump and his administration will take all necessary steps on the federal level to address this problem.’’

"Even though there may be different root causes to the many anti-Jewish incidents we have witnessed in recent weeks, it is clear that we cannot be complacent. We fully agree with Ivanka Trump's statement that 'America is a nation built on the principle of religious tolerance,’’ Lauder added. The president’s daughter has called for the protection of religious institutions.

"Threats to or attacks on synagogues and other Jewish institutions are every bit as un-American as the bombing or burning of Black churches. It’s time for all good people in America to join forces in order to root out all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry,” said Lauder.

Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America and a consistent supporter of Preident Trump, said that Trump should issue a statement denouncing the threats.

“President Trump should come out as soon as possible against these phone threats and make it clear that we in America will not tolerate this kind of disgraceful hatred toward Jews,” Klein said in an interview from Israel, where he is participating in a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Last week, President Trump was asked during a news conference about the prior community centers bomb threats and what the government’s response would be to “an uptick in anti-Semitism.”

Although the Jewish reporter did not suggest Trump was anti-Semitic, the president answered by denying he is an anti-Semite and called the question “insulting.”