WASHINGTON -- When he first ran for the U.S. Senate, Cory Booker received more money from the pro-Israel community than any other candidate.
Now Booker is facing criticism for posing with pro-Palestinian activists who support boycotting the Jewish state.
In the photo, Booker is holding a sign equating Israel's security barrier built to stop Palestinian terrorist bombings and President Donald Trump's proposed wall across the U.S.-Mexico border. It says: "From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go."
The picture was taken at the Netroots conference in New Orleans, a yearly gathering of progressives, where Booker delivered a keynote address.
"Like so many other Americans, we were shocked to see Senator Booker in a photo holding a sign that equated the wall between the U.S. and Mexico to the barrier Israel constructed, which has successfully halted suicide bombers from wreaking more havoc on Israeli citizens," the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which fights anti-Semitism and provides Holocaust education, said in a statement Tuesday, asking Booker for some clarification.
"We understand that the senator does not fully grasp what the sign said," the center said. "We look forward to his clarification on these and other issues related to the Middle East."
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of global social action for the Wiesenthal Center, told NJ Advance Media: "We're going to assume this doesn't reflect Senator Booker's views on the Middle East so please let us know what are your views."
"Because of that image, which is going to be around forever, Senator Booker has an opportunity and responsibility to just clarify specifics on these related issues," Cooper said.
The center made the request of Booker as "a leading American political figure who has been touted as a future president."
Booker spokesman Jeff Giertz said the senator was asked by several people to pose for photos at the conference.
"In one instance, amid the rush, he was posing for a photo and was passed a sign to hold -- he didn't have time to read the sign, and from his cursory glance he thought it was talking about Mexico and didn't realize it had anything to do with Israel," Giertz said.
The Wiesenthal Center said Booker should clarify his stance on issues such as the security barrier between Israel and the West Bank and the anti-Israel boycott, divestiture and sanctions movement, which wants to expel Israel from the United Nations, prevent investments in Israeli-owned companies, and stop Israeli teams from participating in international competitions.
Giertz, Booker's spokesman, said the senator "hopes for a day when there will be no need for security barriers in the state of Israel, but while active terrorist organizations threaten the safety of the people living in Israel, security barriers are unfortunate but necessary to protect human lives."
Booker has called the boycott movement "anti-Jewish."
He received $434,126 from the pro-Israel community for his special election in 2013 and general election in 2014, more than any other federal lawmaker, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group.
He split with many pro-Israel activists when he voted for an agreement to curb Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for relaxing economic sanctions. Trump unilaterally withdrew from the multinational agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
He also opposed legislation designed to block U.S. companies from declining to do business with Israel, and to reduce funding for the Palestinian Authority until it stops paying terrorists' families.
Booker's second-biggest lifetime source of campaign donors is the Englewood Cliffs-based pro-Israel political action committee NORPAC, which has raised or given $158,871 to his Senate campaigns.
The head of NORPAC, Ben Chouake, called the picture a rare mistake on Booker's part, and also suggested that the senator speak out.
"The picture looks so bad it definitely requires him to come out with a statement in terms of explanation: This is where I stand. This is what i beileve in," Chouake said in an interview.
The founder of the Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Martin Heir, spoke at Trump's inauguration in January 2017. He later criticized Trump for saying there was "blame on both sides" for the deadly August 2017 march by neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia. One person was killed when a Nazi sympathizer drove his car into a group of counterprotesters.
"The president of the United States has an obligation not to equate the other demonstrators with Nazis and Klansmen who want an America without Jews, without African-Americans and without Latinos," Hier told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz shortly after the demonstration.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.