WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is aggressively criticizing President Barack Obama’s foreign policy leadership and says the U.S. needs “moral clarity and firmness of purpose.”

The Wisconsin congressman says Obama has treated U.S. ally Israel with, in his words, “indifference bordering on contempt.”

Ryan spoke to a gathering of religious conservatives in Washington on Friday.

In recent days, protesters have attacked U.S. diplomatic outposts in Libya, Egypt and Yemen. Ryan says the U.S. must exercise its influence to prevent problems from turning into crises and that a Romney administration would act more confidently than Obama has.

Ryan also says Republicans will stand up for religious freedom in ways that Obama has not.