American Jewish groups attacked would-be Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Monday over his plan to block entry of Muslims into the US.

“A plan that singles out Muslims and denies them entry to the U.S. based on their religion is deeply offensive and runs contrary to our nation’s deepest values,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement Monday evening.

“In the Jewish community, we know all too well what can happen when a particular religious group is singled out for stereotyping and scapegoating,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL. “We also know that this country must not give into fear by turning its back on its fundamental values, even at a time of great crisis.”

The American Jewish Committee’s director of policy, Jason Isaacson, saw meaning in the fact that Trump’s call for stopping Muslims’ entry into the United States was issued on Hanukkah.

“As Jews who are now observing Hanukkah, a holiday that celebrates a small religious minority’s right to live unmolested, we are deeply disturbed by the nativist racism inherent in the candidate’s latest remarks,” Isaacson said. “You don’t need to go back to the Hanukkah story to see the horrific results of religious persecution; religious stereotyping of this sort has been tried often, inevitably with disastrous results.”

The Jewish Democratic Council called on “leading Republicans, especially Jewish Republicans, to strongly speak out against the bigotry coming from its leading candidate. No single religion is our enemy – terrorists and all those who seek to destroy us are our enemies. The fact that Trump clearly does not understand that shows how profoundly unqualified he is to be the president of the United States. This has got to stop.”

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, echoed the ADL is saying that as Jews who “too often suffered persecution because of our faith, we cannot abide religious bigotry.”

“Our nation, founded by those fleeing religious persecution, is rooted in principles of religious freedom,” he added. “The absence of religious tests for entry or for office and the freedom of every individual to practice their religion are sources of national strength, not weakness.”

Other Jewish groups condemning the comments included J Street, Bend the Arc and the Israel Policy Forum.

Trump in his news release alluded to last week’s massacre in San Bernardino, California, of 14 people by a Muslim couple apparently radicalized by ISIS.

“Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension,” he stated. “Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.”

House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Tuesday also lambasted Trump, saying that his comments are “not who we are as a party.” Trump was unapologetic, however.