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Israel Anti-Boycott Act ‘right thing to do,’ says Cardin

INTERVIEW — Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) spoke to Jewish Insider’s Jacob Kornbluh about Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) recently-announced support for the Israel Anti-Boycott Act in the hallways of the Senate Russell Office Building on Tuesday.

“It’s the right thing to do. This bill clearly protects American companies from being intimidated to boycott Israel. So it’s a bill that should pass without much controversy, and I’m pleased to see Senator Booker, who’s well respected here, supporting it,” said Cardin, who co-sponsored the bipartisan legislation.

Could this lead to other potential 2020 candidates, like Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, coming out in support of the bill?

“Yeah, I don’t believe this bill should be controversial. What it does is protect companies from being intimidated to participate in a foreign boycott. It doesn’t prevent anyone from doing what they want to do from the point of view of their own personal activity. It’s a bill that is important for America. It was important 40 years ago when we passed the Arab Boycott bill. It’s important today to deal with international organizations, and that’s what this bill does.”

“We hope to get it done. I’ve talked to both the Democratic and Republican leaders. We’ve cleared it through the committees. We should hope to get it done this year.”

On the Democratic wins in the midterm elections:

“I think it’s good to have the House under Democratic control. I think it will act as a check and balance on the President and his use of powers. But I don’t think it will affect a lot of the foreign policy issues because I think there’s general agreement. Certainly, our relationship with Israel is strongly supported by both Democrats and Republicans.”

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