On Saturday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren revealed that she is open to withholding billions of dollars in military aid to Israel until the government ceases building settlements in the country’s West Bank.
While speaking to reporters at a campaign stop in Iowa, Sen. Elizabeth Warren was asked if she was open to making “American aid conditional on a freeze to settlement building.”
“Right now, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu says that he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements, [but] that does not move us toward a two-state solution,” Sen. Warren responded.
“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 continued.
“Everything is on the table,” she interrupted as the reporter tried to inquire further, the Daily wire reported.
While almost all of the candidates in the Democratic presidential primary field have advocated for a two-state solution, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been the lone candidate to openly call for making Israeli military aid conditional.
“A two-state solution that achieves legitimate Palestinian aspirations and meets Israel’s security needs remains the only viable way forward, and it will be our policy to support such a solution actively,” Buttigieg said.
“And if Prime Minister Netanyahu makes good on his promise to annex West Bank settlements, he should know that a President Buttigieg would take steps to ensure that American taxpayers won’t help foot the bill,” Buttigieg added.
The Democratic presidential hopeful was subsequently slammed for being especially critical of the Jewish state, one of America’s strongest allies, while remaining silent on the terror emanating from Gaza and the West Bank, which are under control of the Palestinian Authority.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has also expressed support for using U.S. aid to pressure the Israeli government.
During an interview for the podcast “Pod Save America,” Bernie Sanders was asked if he would consider using American aid as leverage to get the Israeli government to act differently, Haaretz reported.
“Absolutely,” Bernie Sanders replied in the July interview.
