Following a verdict issued by the Jerusalem District Court, $3.61 million has been confiscated from the Palestinian Authority by Israel, Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper reported on Thursday.
The petitioners are members of the Arab-Israeli community who currently reside in the West Bank. Their original complaints accused the Palestinian Authority of wrongful arrest under suspicion of collaborating for Israel, according to the report.
Judge Moshe Drori said in his verdict that the PA never possessed the jurisdiction to put these citizens in jail. The arrests and imprisonments, the judge said, violated the citizens’ right to liberty, and therefore should be compensated by the Palestinian Authority.

Sen. Marco Rubio broke with President Trump on Thursday, calling Israel’s decision to bar Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the nation “a mistake.”
“I disagree 100% with Reps. Tlaib & Omar on #Israel & am the author of the #AntiBDS bill we passed in the Senate,” Rubio tweeted, referencing the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement backed by Omar and Tlaib, among others.
“But denying them entry into #Israel is a mistake. Being blocked is what they really hoped for all along in order to bolster their attacks against the Jewish state,” he added.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a statement following the government’s decision not to allow Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to visit Israel.
“No country in the world respects America and the American Congress more than the State of Israel.
“As a free and vibrant democracy, Israel is open to critics and criticism, with one exception: Israeli law prohibits the entry into Israel of those who call for and work to impose boycotts on Israel, as do other democracies that prohibit the entry of people who seek to harm the country. In fact, in the past the US did this to an Israeli member of Knesset, as well as to other public figures from around the world.

In a surprise move, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee chided the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for barring two pro BDS Democratic congresswomen from entering the country ahead of a planned visit.
In a tweet, AIPAC stated that while the organization does not agree with the support Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota have voiced for a Palestinian-led boycott movement – or for Tlaib’s calls for a “one-state solution” to the decades-long conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians – it believes the two lawmakers should be permitted to enter Israel.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said in a statement on Thursday that the United States “supports and respects” Israel’s decision to deny entry to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)
“The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is not free speech. Rather, it is no less than economic warfare designed to delegitimize and ultimately destroy the Jewish state,” said the statement.
Friedman stated that Israel “has every right to protect its borders against those activists in the same manner as it would bar entrants with more conventional weapons.”
Israel blocked entry to the congresswomen earlier on Thursday.

President Trump on Thursday doubled down on his decision to pressure the Israeli government to bar two U.S. Muslim congresswomen from visiting the country, labeling them “anti-Israel.”
“I’m only involved from the standpoint of they are very anti-Jewish and they’re very anti-Israel,” Trump said of Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.).
“I think it’s very disgraceful, the things they’ve said,” Trump continued while speaking to reporters before departing for a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H., on Thursday evening.
“They’ve become the face of the Democrat Party.”
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

Ahead of Israel’s free trade deal with South Korea expected to be signed next week, reports emerged on Thursday that Israel has agreed to exclude Israeli residents living in the West Bank and the Golan Heights from the agreement.
In the past, Israel has refused to sign trade pacts that specifically do not include territories under dispute.
But according to local reports, a final agreement has been struck with the proposed compromise before the visit of South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo to Israel.
This means that residents living in Israel’s disputed territories will not be exempt from custom fees when trading with Seoul, reported YNET News.

The Trump administration is urging Congress to reauthorize the National Security Agency’s (NSA) authority to collect phone record information on millions of Americans, according to a letter obtained by The Hill.
Dan Coats, the departing director of national intelligence (DNI), in a letter to senators dated Wednesday urged Congress to reauthorize all provisions in the USA Freedom Act, a controversial law that is set to expire later this year.

The family of   חיים ישראל בן חיה נ״י would like to share an update with all of our family, friends and the entire ציבור. Your continuous outpouring of תפילות are helping, B’chasdei Hashem.
Chaim Yisroel’s condition has begun to stabilize but remains critical. Please continue to be be מתפלל for חיים ישראל בן חיה , and in the זכות of your תפילות we will אי”ה be זוכה to see continued improvement and a complete רפואה שלמה!
Thank you,
The Gelman family.

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar lashed out Thursday at Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, after the Israeli government announced that Omar and fellow Democratic lawmaker Rashida Tlaib would not be permitted into the country on their planned trip next week.
“It is an affront that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, under pressure from President Trump, would deny entry to representatives of the US government,” Omar said in a statement Thursday following the announcement that she had been banned from Israel.