US Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez says cutting aid to Israel 'an option'

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that reducing aid to Israel is one way that Washington can signal its unease at growing "authoritarianism" in Israel.

The Democrat said on Sunday that she viewed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's re-election as part of "the ascent of authoritarianism across the world".

Ocasio-Cortez, describing Netanyahu as a "Trump-like figure", said that reducing military and economic aid to Israel is "on the table".

She linked Netanyahu's re-election to a wider trend of authoritarianism across the world.

"I think what we are really seeing is an ascent of authoritarianism across the world. I think that Netanyahu is a Trump-like figure."

Speaking on Yahoo's Skullduggery podcast, Ocasio-Cortez responded in the affirmative when asked whether the Israeli prime minister's campaign statements vowing to pursue annexation of parts of the West Bank would have any impact on US policy towards Israel.

"I think these are part of conversations we are having in our caucus," Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that there were "many ways to approach this issue".

Ocasio-Cortez also showed her support for a bill introduced in November 2017 by Democratic representative for Minnesota, Betty McCollum, which would prohibit US military and financial aid to Israel from being used to detain Palestinian children in the West Bank.

McCollum's legislation would "require the Secretary of State to certify that United States funds do not support military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children".

During her primary campaign last year, the 29-year-old progressive Democrat said the Israeli army's gross violations on the Gaza border as a "massacre" reiterating that "Democrats can't be silent about this anymore".