“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 US policy should not be promoting this kind of settlement construction,” said Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., at the annual J Street conference last week in Washington, DC.

In June, Buttigieg warned about possible West Bank annexation by Israel, saying “if Prime Minister Netanyahu makes good on his threat 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.”

Former US Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro said at the conference that he wouldn’t rule out conditioning US assistance to Israel if the Jewish state were to enact such a policy.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took it a step further and said that a portion of the US military assistance to Israel should go towards humanitarian relief in the Gaza Strip.