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Cory Booker on Sid Blumenthal’s influence with Hillary

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker on Thursday defended Hillary Clinton’s position on Israel in spite of the advice she has been receiving from her once-close advisor Sid Blumenthal.

During an interview on the “Michael Medved Show” on Thursday, a caller confronted the New Jersey Senator Booker about Clinton’s relationship to Sidney Blumenthal, and his son Max, saying he would never vote for her, despite voting for Bill Clinton in the 1990’s. The man, a Jewish voter, asked Booker to condemn Max Blumenthal.

Booker, a surrogate for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, said that while he was not very familiar with their views, they do not reflect Clinton’s position on Israel.

“I’m not as familiar with these two gentlemen, but I reject that kind of thought,” Booker said according to excerpts published by BuzzFeed News. “And I think that Hillary Clinton, I would not support her, frankly, this would be a deal-breaker for me, if she did not have a very pro-Israel stance and a vision for our alliance.”

Instead of directly responding to the caller’s question, the New Jersey Senator sharply condemned the BDS movement, calling them “anti-Jewish.”

“I’m gonna go even further,” said Booker. “I think, what I’m seeing now in the BDS movement that’s going around this country. What I’m seeing now in the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. These are things that have to be condemned for what they are, which in my opinion are efforts to undermine America’s most significant ally, specifically in that region. And call it for what it is. And I really do think it is an anti-Jewish movement.”

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