Israel Revokes Entry Permits of 3 Palestinian Officials Who Visited Released Security Prisoner

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday announced that he was revoking the entry permits to Israel of three senior Palestinian Authority officials after they entered Israel to celebrate the release of an Arab Israeli who served four decades in prison for the murder of an Israeli soldier.

The three – Mahmoud al-Aloul, Azzam al-Ahmad, and Rawhi Fattouh – are members of the PA’s ruling Fatah party. They entered Israel on Saturday with their VIP permits to visit Karim Younis, the longest-serving prisoner jailed in Israel for security-related offenses, at his home in the northern Israeli village of ‘Ara, around 2 miles from the armistice line between Israel and the West Bank. Younis was released on Thursday before dawn after serving 40 years for the 1980 murder of Cpl. Avraham Bromberg, who lived in Zikhron Ya’akov, around 9 miles northwest of ‘Ara.

The Defense Ministry said Gallant ordered Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, to revoke the permits after consulting with the Shin Bet security agency and additional officials.

Karim Younis and his cousin Maher Younis killed Bromberg after offering him a ride home from his base in the Golan Heights. They stole his weapon, shot him in the head, and left him by the side of the road. Bromberg was found and brought to Rambam Hospital in Haifa but died four days later from his injuries.

Karim and Maher Younis were arrested for the murder two years later and sentenced to life in prison but in 2012 then-President Shimon Peres commuted their sentences to 40 years. Maher Younis is to be released from jail in two weeks.