The government of Israel announced Thursday it will bar Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering the country after weeks of speculation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would ban the pair from Israel and, by proxy, the Occupied Territories.

U.S. President Donald Trump urged the Israeli government to stand fast, repeating baseless accusations of anti-Semitism against the pair. 

“This is authoritarian behavior,” journalist Rania Khalek said of Israel’s decision in a tweet.

The news was reported Thursday morning in a tweet by Israeli news channel Mako after days of news articles speculating that the Netanyahu government was considering such a move. 

Israeli news outlet i24 News also reported that the Netanyahu government was prepared to announce the two congresswomen were banned from the country: 

In a statement, Tlaib and Omar’s fellow member of “The Squad,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), said that she stood with her colleagues. 

“They are duly elected members of Congress and we cannot allow them to be marginalized, discriminated against, nor targeted because of their gender, their religious beliefs, nor their ethnicity,” said Pressley. ” That is not who we are as a country and we should reevaluate our relationships with any country who seeks to ban Americans and threatens the safety of anyone, including government officials.”

To some observers, however, barring two Muslim American members of Congress from entering the country was just the next step in Israel’s march toward an undemocratic future.