In a meeting with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in Ramallah on Tuesday, newly appointed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh blamed the Trump administration for “punishing” and “blackmailing” the Palestinians. He emphasized its recent cutting of U.S. aid to the Palestinians, recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory and the U.S. embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last spring as reasons for Palestinian fury. He may also have been referring to the much-anticipated Mideast peace plan expected to be revealed in June, after the month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan.
The Palestinians have already made it clear that they will not accept it, sight unseen.

The organizers of the 2020 World Expo in Dubai announced the 192 participating countries, including Israel, which the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) said was invited by the United Arab Emirates.
“We have invited all countries of the world without exception, in line with our commitment to make Expo 2020 Dubai a truly international event and platform for all of humanity,” an official spokesman in Dubai said in a statement.
Expo 2020 Dubai will be “the most inclusive and international exhibition ever organized,” he said, recalling that for more than 170 years the World Expos are “apolitical” events.
Read more at i24NEWS.
{Matzav.com}

The National Security Agency is recommending that the White House officially end the agency’s mass collection of U.S. phone data, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sources told the Journal that the NSA has concluded that the program, which gathered metadata on domestic text messages and phone calls, is too burdensome to maintain.
The White House has final jurisdiction over the matter, and will ultimately decide whether to push for legislation to renew the program’s legal authority, often referred to as Section 215. Sources told the Journal that the White House has not decided what it will do.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas hurried to condemn the horrific terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka on April 14, Easter Sunday, in which more than 300 people were murdered and nearly 500 injured in suicide attacks apparently carried out by an Islamic terrorist group. Abbas’s condemnation doesn’t come as a surprise, as it is his habit to condemn terrorism when it takes place abroad, as opposed to his lack of condemnation of terrorism against Israelis.
Following the tragedy in Sri Lanka, which he called “criminal and gruesome,” Abbas called on the world to combat terrorism together:

Uber drivers in the US will stage a shutdown for 12 hours to protest against poor working conditions and low wages as the company goes public in May.
“Uber’s much-anticipated IPO will put millions into the pockets of executives, but the drivers who are the core of the service of the company will get nothing,” Shona Clarkson, an organizer with Gig Workers Rising, said. “Uber is paying drivers poverty wages and continues to slash wages while executives make millions.”
Drivers for Uber and Lyft, the Uber rival that went public in March, make a median wage of as little as $8.55 an hour before taxes, below the California minimum wage of $11 an hour and barely above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

After much speculation, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced his third run for the White House, entering a crowded field of now 20 Democratic contenders for the American presidency in 2020.
Biden, 76, served as a senator from Delaware for almost 36 years before being tapped as vice president in 2009 under Barack Obama. During his long career, which included sitting on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—he served as chair from 2001 to 2003, and from 2007 to 2009—Biden has exhibited an extensive record on Israel, combining enthusiastic support for its existence with occasional tough criticism.

‘Don’t threaten us with slashing aid’

A UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon Thursday confirmed that a tunnel discovered earlier this year by Israel had crossed the Lebanese-Israeli border, in the third such breach of a ceasefire resolution.
The Israeli army said the tunnel from the Lebanese town of Ramyeh — just 800 meters (yards) from the border — reached a few dozen meters into Israel, and descended 55 meters (180 feet) underground.
UNIFIL on Thursday said the tunnel was the third to have crossed the “Blue Line,” a demarcation line drawn by the UN to mark Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Read more at Times of Israel.
{Matzav.com}

Yahadut HaTorah has offered a compromise on what is widely expected to be one of the most difficult issues facing the 35th Government of Israel – passage of a new draft law governing exemptions for yeshiva students.
As talks for the formation of a governing coalition continue, lawmakers from the UTJ have proposed a compromise plan aimed at passing a new draft law acceptable to both the charedi public and the Yisrael Beytenu party.

A New Jersey mayor is facing mounting backlash for telling a constituent to call the cops on Jewish people for going to the beach.
Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey was responding to a flat-out anti-Semitic tweet by user @simms10471 Tuesday night asking: “Can we please do something about our parks and beaches. They are being invaded by the hasidic and orthodox jews and being ruined.”
“Our tax paying residents are being forced out while politicians sit and do nothing,” the user added.
Instead of condemning the tweet, Ducey, a Democrat, responded: “Just call police with any problems and they will send them out.”
Ducey later apologized for “any hurt I caused but [sic] not being careful with what I said.”

Former President Barack Obama offered some warm words for Joe Biden on Thursday after his vice president officially jumped into the 2020 race, but notably did not endorse him.
“President Obama has long said that selecting Joe Biden as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made,” Obama spokeswoman Katie Hill said. “He relied on the vice president’s knowledge, insight and judgment throughout both campaigns and the entire presidency. The two forged a special bond over the last 10 years and remain close today.”
The cryptic message signals that Obama is likely to follow the precedent he set in 2016, when he did not endorse any candidate during the primary despite his former secretary of State’s presence in the race.