Pete Buttigieg: U.S. support for Israel is not support for annexation
“The basis of our relationship with Israel is not just a strategic alliance that is very important to us, but also an alliance that’s based on shared values,” Buttigieg said.
By OMRI NAHMIASPete Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and presidential hopeful, Pete Buttigieg, said on Monday that the US has mechanisms to ensure that taxpayer support to Israel “does not get turned into US taxpayer support for a move like annexation.”Buttigieg, who already said in the past that he would be willing to condition military aid if Israel continues to build settlements, said at the J Street annual conference that the US should verify that aid money does not support settlements.“It begins with understanding that the basis of our relationship with Israel is not just a strategic alliance that is very important to us, but also an alliance that’s based on shared values,” he said. “And we need to make sure that our cooperation, our security and diplomatic and strategic cooperation with Israel happens in a framework that’s compatible with those values. It also has to be compatible with our US security and policy objectives. And in the long run, what makes the most sense for American, as well as Israeli and Palestinian, interests is peace and a two-state solution.”“The problem with annexation is that it is incompatible with a two-state solution,” Buttigieg said in reference to hypothetical Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. “And I believe ultimately moving in that direction represents moving away from peace. We have a responsibility as the key ally to Israel to make sure that we guide things in the right direction.”“Our security support is based on strategic objectives,” he continued. “It’s based on values, and we need to make sure that it does not turn into a go-ahead where we would be endorsing anything like annexation. That means we have a responsibility. And by the way, we have mechanisms to do this, to ensure that US taxpayer support to Israel does not get turned into US taxpayer support for a move like annexation.”He said that any aid that the US is giving to any country should be aligned with American policy.“The US law framework for security cooperation in aid to any country has very specific expectations about how that will be used,” he said. “This is built into the Arms Export Control Act. This is built into a Leahy Law. And we need to make sure that any such cooperation and funding is going to things that are compatible with US objectives and with US law, and if we continue to see steps that are potentially destructive, I think it is a reminder that we need to have the visibility to know whether US funds are being used in a way that’s actually not compatible with US policy. And our policy should not be promoting this kind of settlement construction precisely because it is incompatible, or at best detrimental, to what we want to see happen.”Buttigieg added that he sees the US’s relationship with Israel as one with a friend who needs to be guided “toward a better place.”“When I think about what could continue in terms of these settlements and certainly something like annexation, I think about it the way I think of a friendship where your friend is acting in a way that you think might hurt your relationship, might hurt them and might even hurt you,” the South Bend mayor said. “And what you do in that situation is you put your arm around your friend, and you try to guide them toward a better place. And I think that’s our responsibility with respect to these policies.”
