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WASHINGTON (JTA) — American Muslim and Jewish leaders jointly condemned the desecration of a Muslim symbol near the White House last month.

But comments from one Arab-American leader who credited the Nazis with creating the Jewish state created tension between the two groups.

M.T. Mehdi, president of the National Council on Islamic Affairs, had pushed for the display of a star and crescent near a Chanukah menorah and Christmas tree on the south side of the White House.

The star was defaced with a swastika and detached from the crescent in an incident that the U.S. Park Police is investigating.

Over the weekend, Muslim groups erected a new star and crescent.

But Mehdi's comments in the Washington Post last week regarding the incident caused an uproar in the Jewish community. He called the Nazis "the real founders of Israel," saying that the Nazi destruction of European Jewry led to the creation of the Jewish state.

Clarifying his position in an interview, Mehdi said, "We hate the swastika because it reflects the Nazis and the hated Hitler, who killed 6 million Jews and frightened European Jews to go to Palestine and create the Jewish state.

"Hitler helped Israel more than Herzl. Herzl was unable to do that, so in a lopsided way Hitler is the father of Israel," said Mehdi, referring to Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism.

American Jewish groups reacted angrily to Mehdi's comments.

"Instead of injecting bigoted ideas into the circumstances we're facing, he should focus on bringing Jews and Christians together with Muslims and Arab-Americans," said David Friedman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

The American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress and the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington responded similarly, calling Mehdi's remarks "venomous" and "outrageous."

Arab-American groups supported the Jewish response.

"They are right," Hala Maksoud, president of the Arab American Discrimination Committee, said of the Jewish reaction to Mehdi's comments.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, said Mehdi's comments were "absolutely the wrong response to what happened."

Maksoud said the presence of the star-and-crescent symbol represents a recognition of the growing Arab-American and Muslim community in the United States.

"The fact that some people find that objectionable is a matter of dismay to us," she said.