Atlanta , Georgia ( CNN ) -- The U.S. Secret Service is looking into a controversial column by an Atlanta Jewish newspaper publisher that mulled the assassination of an American president . Andrew Adler , owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times , wrote a January 13 column about the threat of Iran to Israel . He posed three options for the Jewish state to counter the Iranian regime . One of them called for a `` hit on a president in order to preserve Israel 's existence . '' `` Give the go-ahead for U.S. based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States ' policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies . '' U.S. Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie told CNN Saturday , `` We are aware of it . We are taking the appropriate investigative steps . '' Adler could not be reached for comment , but the Jewish Telegraphic Agency , a wire service for Jewish newspapers in North America , quoted Adler on Friday as saying `` I very much regret it . I wish I had n't made reference to it at all . '' Adler -- who said he 's gotten a lot of flak for the column -- said he would issue an apology in the next edition of the weekly newspaper , the JTA reported . The column , titled `` What would you do ? '' does n't mention President Barack Obama 's name , but U.S. Jewish groups that strongly denounced the column read the words as a reference to Obama himself . The column also refers to the administration 's `` never ending 'Alice in Wonderland ' belief that diplomacy is the answer , '' an apparent dig at the Obama White House 's foreign policy efforts at dialogue with such countries as Iran . `` The suggestion by anyone , in this case a Jewish newspaper publisher , that Israel should consider assassinating President Obama is shocking beyond belief , '' said Dov Wilker , director of the American Jewish Committee in Atlanta . `` While we acknowledge Mr. Adler 's apology , we are flabbergasted that he could ever say such a thing in the first place . How could he even conceive of such a twisted idea ? '' said Wilker . `` Mr. Adler surely owes immediate apologies to President Obama , as well as to the State of Israel and his readership , the Atlanta Jewish community . '' The White House declined to comment Saturday on the column . Abraham H. Foxman , the national director of the Anti-Defamation League , said Adler 's `` lack of judgment as a publisher , editor and columnist raises serious questions as to whether he 's fit to run a newspaper . '' `` There is absolutely no excuse , no justification , no rationalization for this kind of rhetoric . It does n't even belong in fiction . These are irresponsible and extremist words . It is outrageous and beyond the pale . An apology can not possibly repair the damage . `` Irresponsible rhetoric metastasizes into more dangerous rhetoric . The ideas expressed in Mr. Adler 's column reflect some of the extremist rhetoric that unfortunately exists -- even in some segments of our community -- that maliciously labels President Obama as an 'enemy of the Jewish people , ' '' Foxman said . Simon Wiesenthal Center associate dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper called the remarks `` irresponsible and reprehensible '' and said they `` must be publicly condemned by Jewish leaders across the ideological and political spectrum . '' `` We take small comfort from the apology â€ ” what a shanda ! '' Cooper said , using the Yiddish word for something shameful or scandalous . JTA also quoted Opher Aviran , the Israeli consul-general in Atlanta as saying he was `` appalled at this deranged and morally repugnant assertion . We condemn such calls in the strongest possible terms . '' The Atlanta Jewish Times , a weekly focused on the Atlanta Jewish community , was founded in 1925 as the Southern Israelite .
Atlanta Jewish News piece suggests Israel kill American Jewish ` ` to preserve Israel 's sovereignty '' U.S. Jewish groups slam column ; Israel reportedly refuses compensation . ` ` We are taking the appropriate investigative action , '' Secret Service says .