(JTA) — Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, hinted that the United States could withhold aid to Israel to stop settlement construction.
“It is the official policy of the United States of America to support a two-state solution, and if Israel is moving in the opposite direction, then everything is on the table,” she said in remarks captured on video by The Hill.
Warren was responding to a question at a campaign event on Saturday in Iowa about her position on aid to Israel and the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
“Right now, (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu says he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements, that does not move us in the direction of a two-state solution,” she said.
Israel receives $3.8 billion in military assistance from the United States annually.
On Friday, South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, also a leading Democratic candidate, said during an event at the University of Chicago that aid to Israel is “leverage to guide Israel in the right direction.” But he did not elaborate on “all of the ways that that leverage can and should be used.”
Buttigieg’s remarks were first reported by IfNotNow, after the question was asked of the mayor by one of its members.
In July, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, also a leading Democratic presidential candidate, said during an interview on the “Pod Save America” podcast that he would “absolutely” consider cutting U.S. aid to Israel to pressure the Israeli government to act differently.
