The controversial Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, has declared that Jews always put Israel first and warned President Donald Trump not to allow himself to be controlled by his adviser Jared Kushner, who is Jewish.

In a speech in Detroit, Mr Farrakhan, an American religious leader, said anything discussed in the White House in the presence of Jews would be instantly communicated to Israel.

“When you say, Mr Trump, ‘America first’, ask any Jew, even your son-in-law [Jared Kushner]. America is never first, Israel is always first. And as long as Israel is first then whatever you think or plan will be in Israel before you leave the room in the White House. Mr Trump, you have to extricate yourself from being controlled by any one of these.”

Mr Trump’s daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism when she married Mr Kushner, who as Mr Trump’s senior adviser has been put in charge of brokering a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians.  

Mr Farrakhan made his comments last month in a speech marking Saviours’ Day, the anniversary of the birth of the founder of the Nation of Islam, which is a political and religious group working to improve conditions for African Americans. 

A keen supporter of Mr Trump, Mr Farrakhan has regularly made antisemitic comments in the past. In 2015 he suggested that Jews had been involved in the attacks on the World Trade Centre in 2001.