In June, the hacker was convicted on charges of making a string of bomb threats targeting U.S. Jewish community centers, airlines and shopping malls – capping a case that had raised fears of a wave of anti-Semitism in the United States.

He was also found guilty of multiple counts of extortion, publishing false information, money laundering and violating computer laws.

The Tel Aviv District court did not identify the defendant, now 20, because he was a teen when he committed the crimes.

His arrest in March 2017 followed a joint investigation with the FBI and other international law enforcement agencies.

Police said the man used advanced technologies to mask the origin of his calls and communications to synagogues, community buildings and public venues.

In early 2017, there were dozens of bomb threats against Jewish community centers and day schools across the U.S. and in Canada, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish group that battles anti-Semitism. The threats led to evacuations, rattled local Jewish communities and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism.

The Israeli indictment asserted that in addition to the Jewish centers, the man also targeted airports, malls, police stations and the office of Republican State Sen. Ernesto Lopez from Delaware. He also offered his intimidation services over the internet in return for compensation in bitcoin.

The convicted hacker was accused of making over 2,000 threats.

Among the allegations were making a bomb threat against an El Al flight to Israel that saw fighter jets scramble to escort it to safety, and threatening a Canadian airport, which required passengers to disembark on emergency slides. Six people were injured. He was also accused of threatening a Virgin Australia flight that, as a result, dumped eight tons of fuel over the ocean before landing, and threatening a plane being used by the NBA's Boston Celtics.

According to court documents, the defense claimed the suspect was mentally ill and had acted out of boredom.

While finding him to be on the autism spectrum, the court said there were no signs of mental illness. It said he was highly intelligent and had gone to great lengths to cover up his acts, proving he understood right from wrong.

His parents have said he has a brain tumor that causes autism and other mental problems, making him unable to understand the nature of his actions.

A court-appointed psychiatrist confirmed the defendant was autistic and suffers from paranoid delusions, but determined that he was fit to stand trial, according to the verdict released to media.

"I did it out of boredom. It was like a game. I understand that it is wrong, and I am sorry and will not do it again," the verdict quoted him as telling the psychiatrist.

It also said he earned about $240,000 worth of the digital currency bitcoin by selling his threat services online.

Police had said he used sophisticated "camouflage technologies" to disguise his voice and mask his location. They said a search of his home uncovered antennas and satellite equipment.

In his ruling, the judge noted that the investigators had determined the young man enjoyed making people panic and putting them in fear and distress.

Prosecutor Yoni Hadad said the man "caused panic and terrorized many people, disrupting their lives."

Defense attorney Yoram Sheftel said in June that his client was the first person with autism to be put on trial in Israel. "Our courts keep expanding the scope of convictions," he said.

In the U.S., the young man also faces federal hate crimes, bomb threats, and cyberstalking charges that could potentially put him behind bars for decades, according to an indictment issued in February. Israel has reportedly refused a U.S. request to extradite him.

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One of three hairs found on Rada's body has been identified as possibly belonging to a suspect known by the initials A.H. or one of A.H.'s relatives. A.H. is the ex-boyfriend of O.K., a woman who has been diagnosed with a psychiatric illness. A few years after the murder, A.H. told police that O.K. had confessed to him that she killed Rada and that she had been wearing his clothes when she committed the murder.

In 2010, Roman Zadorov, who was working construction at Rada's school, was convicted of the murder and is currently serving a life sentence. The conviction was upheld in a 2014 appeal and again in an appeal to the Supreme Court in December 2015.

In the Supreme Court ruling, two justices voted to uphold the conviction and a third dissented.

Earlier in the case, the hairs were sent to an American lab for analysis, ruling out Zadorov. More recently, Zadorov's attorney Yarom Halevi asked to retest the hairs and compare them to O.K.'s and A.H.'s DNA.

Despite Zadorov's conviction, some believe he confessed under duress and that the real murderer may still be on the loose.

"O.K. is the murderer and there needs to be a retrial and Zadorov must be released from prison right now," Halevi declared.

"Of the many hairs that were found on Rada's body, one was found to belong to A.H. From a legal perspective, that is 100% [conclusive]. The moment it was found to belong to A.H., it was legally apparent that O.K. is the murderer. That is why I requested that the sample be compared to A.H.'s DNA."

Dr. Nurit Bublil, head of the DNA lab at the Israel National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Abu Kabir added that the institute had received two new samples that were tested more broadly than previous ones. "Future developments could lead to more tests," she said.

Touching on the new findings, prosecutors in the case said: "Remember, at the time, three hairs were discovered at the scene that did not match Roman Zadorov's genetic profile. The hairs had no roots, so the only test that could be run on them was a test for mitochondrial DNA [which is passed on through the mother]."

According to Halevi, police investigators used Zadorov as a scapegoat.

"Unfortunately," Halevi said, "the investigators found a convenient victim and were able to close the case, and the prosecution went along with it. Senior officials in the State Attorney's Office told me that there was a big drama. What I understand as a litigator, and what the prosecution refuses to accept, is that Roman now has to be released. O.K. is the murderer and she is traveling abroad, and that's on the prosecution. I've been shouting it for six months, but the prosecution hasn't lifted a finger."

O.K. was questioned during the original investigation and was ruled out as a suspect. However, two weeks ago, a young woman appeared at the police station in Nazareth Illit and told police that O.K. had also confessed to her that she had murdered Rada.

When asked about the latest testimony, the prosecution said "Without addressing the content of the investigations already carried out, we will say that every report on this matter was looked into, including the reports about confessions by O.K. and others, and that version [of events] in which she was involved has been rejected as untruthful."

"It was concluded, also, that it is impossible to rule out that O.K. told various people that she was the murderer, as a result of the mental illness she suffered from. In this context we must note that no new evidence has been found, even now, that suggests that the story is true."

Supreme Court Justice (ret.) Yoram Danziger, who wrote the dissenting opinion when Zadorov's case was appealed to the Supreme Court in 2015, said Friday that there was a "decent chance" that there could be another phase to the case and a retrial.

Danziger addressed the new developments at an event at Tel Aviv University. "I swore I wouldn't discuss the case, especially after what happened [Thursday]," Danziger said, referring to the new evidence.

"I will say that two months ago, when I refused to talk about it, I explained that there was a decent chance that the case would move into a new phase and there would be a retrial. It is inappropriate for a retired judge to express an opinion about whether the majority [of the judges on the panel] was correct, or whether the minority was."

"I assume that if we get to the stage of a retrial, all the questions will be answered," Danziger said.

Predictably, the new evidence sparked a flurry of responses from the Rada family. Ilana Rada, Tair's mother, said she was "shocked."

"It's very difficult, but there's one thing I know – that when all this is over, it's important to us to find the murderer. I'm upset that a hair containing DNA that was A.H.'s, not Zadorov's, was found on Tair's body. I hope that this time, the prosecution and the police and the court won't lie to the citizens of Israel, especially me. We've been fighting for 12 years to bring Tair's real killer to justice."

"I don't think that after the emergence of evidence like this, anyone can ignore the doubt, and I have a feeling that this time the case will be re-opened," she said. "I haven't been in contact with Zadorov's wife, Olga, and I was never willing to contact her, because I had no interest in Zadorov being released without forensic evidence proving that someone else was the killer."

Zadorov's family was excited to hear about the new evidence. His son said, "I'm not too optimistic, but I hope that dad will be released, and now I believe that might happen."

Zadorov's mother-in-law added, "We got lucky today, and I hope that he'll be home [soon]. We've been waiting for this for 12 years."

O.K., who is currently abroad, addressed the latest findings in an interview to Hadshot News, in which she denied any involvement in the murder.

"I have nothing to do with it … I want them to leave me alone. The incident has nothing to do with me," she said.

O.K.'s attorney Daniel Haklai told Hadshot News that "This is indeed dramatic evidence, and it's difficult to give an unequivocal response before I look at it thoroughly. In her confessions to the murder, O.K. never gave any details that only the killer would know, like where the body was found or where on the body the cuts were.

"Until this evening, we had written confirmation from the head of the criminal department in the State Attorney's office that there was no scientific evidence linking O.K. to the affair or to the crime scene itself. As a defense attorney, I'm arguing that it is never possible to know if something is 100% certain. We can only prove [or disprove] beyond a reasonable doubt," Haklai said.

"My recommendation to suspects is to always cooperate with the police and show up for questioning, and I'm convinced that she [O.K.] will take my recommendation and appear before the police when she returns to Israel, if she is asked to. In addition, I must underscore that this is evidence that connects a different person [to the crime]," Haklai said.

Director of the Israel National Center of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, Dr. Chen Kugel, said that the institute had conducted mitochondrial DNA testing on the hairs found on Rada's body to various other genetic profiles.

"The tests were carried out multiple times to verify them, and new evidence has been found that was previously unknown. We don't intend to assign any meaning to this, and are leaving the legalistic aspects to the courts," Kugel said.

The State Attorney's Office said, "The Institute for Forensic Medicine reported that none of the hairs was a match to O.K. and that one of the three was a match for A.H.'s mitochondrial DNA. That match means that A.H. is one of a large group that includes an undetermined number of people who could be a match for the hair that was found. The result of the tests will be examined by the prosecution to check whether they are significant at all and what evidentiary weight the evidence carries."

Meanwhile, the Public Defender's Office said it "welcomed the new forensic discovery, which strengthens the argument for Roman Zadorov's innocence. In recent years, the Public Defender's Office has been fighting to prevent and rectify wrongful convictions."

"There are issues in Zadorov's case that raise suspicion that the conviction is based on false confessions and unreliable scientific evidence, the problematic nature of a conviction by a majority, and the extent of the establishment's willingness to examine itself."

"We hope that in this case, the truth will come to light. This is an opportunity to rethink and make important changes that will prevent the terrible injustice of innocent people being convicted," the office said.

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She is set to be deported.

Lara Alqasem has until Sunday to decide whether to appeal her case to the Israeli Supreme Court or to leave the country, her attorney, Yotam Ben-Hillel, said. In the meantime, she will remain in detention.

Alqasem, 22, arrived in Israel on Oct. 2 with a valid student visa, issued by the Israeli consulate in Miami, to pursue her graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. But she was stopped at Ben-Gurion International Airport and barred from entering the country because of her role as president of a local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which promotes BDS, at the University of Florida. She has been held in detention at the airport since, though Israel says she is free to return to the U.S. at any time.

While in airport detention, she filed an appeal with Tel Aviv District Court against the ban. The court turned her down on Friday, finding for the state.

Hebrew University has called for her to be let in.

Alqasem, whose father is Palestinian, has argued that she is no longer involved in the movement. But Israel's Strategic Affairs Ministry, which leads the country's efforts against BDS, is unconvinced and has demanded that she apologize and pledge not to resume her past activities.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan welcomed Friday's decision.

"The court clearly declared that a state has the right to protect itself not only in matters of security but also to fight boycotts against its products, culture or standing," he said in a statement. "I will continue to fight with everything available against those who try to harm Israel and its citizens."

She stopped her activities in the Students for Justice group months before the anti-boycott law came into effect, her lawyer told the court.

At an earlier hearing, Alqasem pledged not to take part in boycott activities while in Israel and said she did not intend to visit the West Bank, her attorneys said.

BDS supporters say that in urging businesses, artists and universities to sever ties with Israel, they are using nonviolent means to resist unjust policies toward Palestinians. Israel says the movement masks its motives to delegitimize or destroy the Jewish state.

Israel enacted a law last year banning entry for any foreigner who "knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel." But it has come under heavy criticism for its handling of Alqasem's case.

But Friday's 11-page verdict by Judge Erez Yekutiel said the law made no clear distinction between past and present activism, giving the state discretion to bar anyone it deemed "liable" to promote an anti-Israel boycott.

Yekutiel also noted that his court was not empowered to contradict national legislation. Israel's Supreme Court is offering a possible last resort for appellants turned down by lower district courts.

Alqasem's lawyers could not be reached for comment on the eve of Shabbat when Israeli public services shut down.

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In a statement issued through the Justice Ministry, ‎the Shin Bet, responding to a query from the ‎Association for Civil Rights in Israel, published ‎data saying that in 2017, 336 foreigners were denied ‎entry to Israel on the grounds of suspected ‎terrorist and espionage activities, while only 17 ‎individuals were denied entry to the country over ‎political activities affiliated with the radical ‎left.‎

"Airport interviews of this nature are held as part ‎of the Shin Bet's duty to thwart illegal activities ‎on nationalistic grounds or those pertaining to ‎terrorism. This does not take place in the context ‎of suspicion of subversion or in the context of ‎delegitimization" of the State of Israel, "nor does ‎this mean to prevent protests," the Shin Bet ‎said.‎

The agency stressed that it "does not question ‎political activists, as this does not fall under our ‎purview."‎

Commenting on the Beinart ‎affair, the agency said, ‎‎"Interviews must refrain from including questions on ‎an individual's political views."‎

It further noted that "when possible, officers must ‎do what they can to minimize the subject's delay at ‎the border crossing." ‎

ACRI legal counsel Dan Yakir criticized Mendelblit ‎for "adopting the Shin Bet's position rather than ‎decrying it.

"Beinart's was the only case when the ‎Shin Bet admitted they were wrong, which only proves ‎our case of persecution meant to threaten those who ‎criticize the occupation in and outside Israel,"‎ he said.

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The Jerusalem District Court ruled Thursday that the ‎Kol Barama radio station was liable for damages as part of a ‎class-action lawsuit that was filed by Kolech, an ‎Orthodox feminist advocacy group, on the grounds ‎that between 2009 and 2011, the station refused to ‎include women in its broadcasts altogether. ‎

Strict ultra-Orthodox circles object to women ‎singing – or even speaking – in public. Kol Barama ‎alleged it had the right to enforce this decree, and ‎while it lifted its ban on putting women ‎on the air ‎in 2014, the station still refused to air the works ‎of female singers. ‎

The plaintiffs argued that the move ‎constituted grave discrimination against women.‎

The suit, filed in 2012, was the first class-action ‎lawsuit to challenge civil rights in Israel.‎

While the court ruled in 2014 that Kol Barama was guilty of discrimination, the station ‎appealed the ruling before Israel's Supreme Court. The ‎appeal was rejected in 2015, and several hearings ‎have since been held to determine the ‎amount of restitution the station would have to pay.‎

Judge Gila Kanfi-Steinitz noted in her ruling that ‎the damages aimed to consider the ‎station's "complete exclusion of women, while ensuring ‎this fine will not undermine the financial stability ‎of the defendant, which provides an important ‎service to its sector."‎

The station's conduct contributed to the "deepening perception of female inferiority" within haredi circles, "fueling feelings of frustration, humiliation, and diminished self-worth among women, who were prevented from influencing the public agenda in their own sector."

Setting a NIS 1 million figure "means to deter the ‎defendant from similar discriminatory behavior in ‎the future," the judge ruled. ‎

Kolech Attorney Orly Erez-Likhovsky, who represented ‎the plaintiffs, called the ruling "an important ‎milestone in the struggle against discrimination in ‎general and the exclusion of women in particular.‎"

‎"This ruling underscores the severity of this type ‎of exclusion and the price excluding parties must ‎pay for it. Kolech will continue to work toward ‎achieving a just and equal society, and fight ‎against social discrimination." ‎

Kolech ‎Director Attorney Yael Rockman ‎welcomed the ruling, saying that the court had "set ‎a precedent in its ruling against Kol Barama and in ‎favor of women's right to be heard in the public ‎sphere." ‎

The group said the funds will go toward programs ‎that help empower religious women.‎

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The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday handed down its sentence against Ayman Kurd, 23, of Hebron, who was convicted of two counts of attempted murder for his attack on a male and a female police officer near Herod's Gate on Sept. 19, 2016. The female officer was left paralyzed as a result of the attack.

The judge said the attack was ideologically motivated and Kurd had attempted to become a shahid ("martyr").

According to the indictment, Kurd set out for Jerusalem carrying a kitchen knife shortly after 6 a.m. and arrived at Damascus Gate around 7:15 a.m., where he took time to sit on a bench and listen to Quran verses, as well as write a farewell message to his father on Facebook.

At 7:30 a.m., he noticed the two Israeli officers, who were heading toward a nearby police station. He followed them toward Herod's Gate and pulled out his knife, stabbing the male officer in his upper back and neck several times.

He then knocked down the female officer and stabbed her in the neck a number of times, with enough force to break the knife's blade, which remained stuck in her spinal cord. The wounded male officer managed to fire several shots at the attacker, immobilizing him until he could be arrested.

In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered Kurd to pay damages to the two officers.

Kurd was ordered to pay the female officer 258,000 shekels ($72,000) in damages. He will also have to pay the male officer NIS 70,000 ($19,500).

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Around 180 Bedouin live in tin and wood shacks in Khan al-Ahmar, 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Jerusalem between the Israeli communities of Maaleh Adumim and Kfar Adumim.

The Palestinians claim that Israeli building permits have been impossible to get for Khan al-Ahmar. Israel has long sought to clear Bedouin from the area between the two communities, and the High Court approved the demolition in May.

The High Court of Justice rejected an appeal to block the demolition, lifting an injunction set to expire in a week.

No date has been set for the demolition at this time.

The United Nations, the European Union and others have expressed concern over the fate of Khan al-Ahmar, but Israel maintains the village was illegally built and has offered to resettle residents 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) away.

Israel says the structures that make up Khan al-Ahmar, which include an Italian-funded school, pose a threat to residents because of their proximity to a highway. Critics have dismissed this claim as a ploy to remove the village's residents.

The court said it was not presented with evidence to warrant overturning the previous verdict and there was no question over the illegality of the construction on the site.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman lauded the judges for their "brave" ruling in the face of a "hypocritical" campaign directed by the Palestinians, the Israeli left and European countries.

"No one is above the law. No one can stop us from implementing our sovereignty and responsibility as a state," he said.

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Uri Ariel ‎welcomed the ruling, saying "the High Court set a ‎precedent that will be used in many future cases."‎

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein noted that "the ‎pressure exerted by the EU was useless. Israel is a ‎nation of law and all are equal before it."‎

Amnesty International said the court approved a "war crime," citing the forcible transfer of people under occupation as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

"With this shameful and manifestly unlawful ruling, the High Court has confirmed a pattern of complicity in the crime of forcible transfer of Palestinian communities for the expansion Jewish only settlements," Amnesty's director in Jerusalem, Saleh Higazi, said in a statement.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on Israel to abandon its plans and said the destruction of private property by an occupying power violates international law.

Joint Arab List MK Yousef Jabareen‏ ‏criticized the ‎court's ruling, calling it "another moral stain on ‎legal history that condones statement construction ‎and uprooting residents."‎

Fellow party member MK Dov Khenin decried the ruling as ‎‎"a terrible wrong that every conscientious person ‎must oppose."

The European Union has asked Israel to reconsider the planned demolition.

U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov issued a ‎statement saying, "The U.N. calls on Israel to cease ‎the demolition of Palestinian property and the ‎efforts to relocate the Bedouin in the West Bank. ‎Such actions undermine the two-state vision and are ‎in violation of international law."‎

Residents remained defiant and said they would resist the move.

"We will stand against this decision and we will not leave our land," said Ibrahim Abu Dahook, who lives in the encampment.

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She denies any wrongdoing.

The Prime Minister's Residence affair is the ‎collective term for a number of cases concerning the ‎official residence in Jerusalem. ‎The main case centers on suspicions that, between 2010 and 2013, Netanyahu ‎misused public funds by spending some 390,000 ‎shekels (over $100,000) on catered gourmet meals, despite employing two state-funded cooks.‎

The prime minister's wife faces charges of fraud, ‎breach of trust and aggravated fraudulent ‎receipt of goods. ‎If convicted, she could face up to five years behind ‎‎bars‎. ‎

Ezra Saidoff, a former deputy director of the Prime ‎Minister's Office, was also indicted in the case. He ‎faces charges of fraud, breach of trust, ‎fraudulently obtaining goods, and falsifying records ‎pertaining to the funding of private expenses at the ‎Prime Minister's Residence. ‎

The indictment, filed with the Jerusalem ‎Magistrates' Court, followed a three-year ‎investigation. ‎

The prosecution claims that Netanyahu and Saidoff‎ ‎‎collaborated to fraudulently ‎obtained hundreds of ‎catered meals that were delivered to the Prime ‎Minister's Residence, while deliberately violating ‎Civil Service regulations. ‎The two did so by falsely claiming the Prime ‎Minister's Residence was devoid of a full-time cook ‎when, if fact, several cooks were employed there at ‎the time.‎

‎"Through this misrepresentation, the defendants ‎managed to deceive the relevant officials in the ‎‎[Prime Minister's] Office and ensure both the ‎employment of full-time cooks at the Prime Minister's ‎Residence and funding for meals prepared by chefs ‎and restaurants and delivered to the residence," the indictment stated.‎

Prosecutors said that each catered meal cost between ‎hundreds and thousands of shekels, saying dozens of ‎meals were delivered to the Jerusalem residence each month.‎

Another case included in the indictment, dubbed the ‎‎"waiters' affair," alleges that the prime minister's ‎wife demanded external waiting staff be employed in ‎the residence during the weekends and when private ‎functions were held there. ‎

‎"The defendant demanded that waiting services at the ‎Prime Minister's Residence be supplied by specific ‎waiters she deemed to be 'highly qualified,'" the ‎indictment said.‎

According to the prosecution, these waiters' wages were substantially higher than ‎other staffers at the official residence, prompting ‎Saidoff to instruct them to report longer working ‎hours than they actually performed, to justify the ‎expense.‎

The indictment also covered the employment of an ‎‎electrician, whose hiring had originally been ‎‎scrapped by the Prime Minister's Office due to his ‎‎close ties with the Netanyahu family. Saidoff is ‎‎accused of falsifying documents so as to ‎‎circumvent the PMO's original order that the ‎‎contract with this specific electrician be annulled.‎ ‎

Sara Netanyahu's lawyers said the indictment was ‎‎"ludicrous," ‎adding that other employees at the ‎residence had ordered the meals and that the ‎restrictions on ordering food there were invalid.‎

‎"There was no fraud or breach of trust or fraudulent ‎receipt of items or any other offense. The prime ‎minister's wife, who is not a public servant, did ‎not know about the regulations in question and was ‎found to have spoken truthfully when answering ‎questions during a lie detector test," they said in a statement.

‎"The most absurd thing in the indictment stems from ‎the fact that it is based on illegal regulations, ‎and even the person who wrote the regulations admits ‎that they are illegal. The regulations covering food were written on the ‎fly by three officials who were unauthorized to do ‎so," the statement said.

Yehoshua Reznik, who represents Saidoff, said the ‎charges were "fundamentally wrong and inconsistent ‎with the legal and factual situation as shown by the ‎evidence in the case."‎

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Case 4,000 centers on potentially illicit dealings ‎and conflict of interest involving Israeli telecom ‎corporation Bezeq and the Walla news website, which ‎Bezeq owns. The police allege that Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Bezeq until recently, secured positive coverage ‎of Netanyahu and his family on the site in exchange for government regulations worth ‎hundreds of millions of dollars to the company.‎

According to the report, Major Crimes Unit ‎investigators plan to question Netanyahu in the case ‎on June 12, in light of new information provided by former Netanyahu ‎spokesman Nir Hefetz, who turned state's witness. ‎

Hefetz reportedly provided investigators with a "breakthrough" in the case, handing over ‎information proving that Netanyahu and Elovitch were ‎aware of the illicit nature of their relationship.‎

According to media reports, Hefetz ‎told the police that ‎in his capacity as the prime minister's spokesman, ‎he spoke with Elovitch up to seven times a ‎day. ‎

Channel 10 News reported that the police and the prosecution believe that text messages sent from the prime minister's wife, Sara Netanyahu, to ‎Elovitch, could potentially support bribery charges. ‎

Other reports indicated that State Attorney Shai ‎Nitzan plans to review the final recommendations in another corruption case involving ‎Netanyahu, Case 1,000, this week. Case 1,000 centers on gifts Netanyahu and his ‎wife allegedly received from Hollywood ‎producer Arnon Milchan and Australian tycoon James ‎Packer.‎

Sources at the State Attorney's Office said Nitzan ‎is inclined to charge Netanyahu with fraud and ‎breach of trust in the case. ‎

Hadashot further reported that Hefetz gave ‎investigators information suggesting that the ‎Netanyahus had received gifts from other ‎businessmen as well. ‎

According to the reports, during one trip to New ‎York, one of the individuals in question gave Sara ‎Netanyahu a credit card for her own personal use.‎

A statement issued by Netanyahu's office criticized the ‎reports as "a pile of lies about Netanyahu's ‎relationship with Elovitch. The equally vicious and ‎delusional allegations suggesting the prime minister ‎and his wife used friends' credit cards or were ‎given gifts during their trips abroad, as well as ‎many other false claims, are completely baseless ‎and never happened."‎

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Ben Avraham appeared at the Tel Aviv District Court, in its capacity as an administrative court, to respond to a Movement for Quality Government in Israel petition asking to unseal the 2012 report. The document, known as the Shamgar Report, was commissioned in order to provide Israeli decision-makers with a coherent strategy aimed at securing the release of missing Israelis.

The terrorist group Hamas is believed to have possession of the bodies of Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul and Lt. Hadar Goldin, who were killed in the Gaza Strip in separate battles during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. Ethiopian Israeli Avera Mengistu and Bedouin Israeli Hisham al-Sayed crossed into Gaza voluntarily in 2014 and 2015, and are believed to have been captured by Hamas. A fifth Israeli, Jumaa Abu Ghanima, was seen crossing into the Gaza Strip in 2016 and his fate remains unknown.

"I am not against having a public debate on how to bring back captive Israeli soldiers but I want to say something else: There are two Israeli soldiers whose bodies are held by Hamas, along with two living Israeli civilians. People are trying to bring them back as we speak, and therefore having the report released at this junction would compromise state security," Ben Avraham said in court.

When asked by the judge whether she would still be opposed had Israel not been engaged in efforts to bring back captives, she said: "My answer is yes." She explained that "just three weeks ago, I gave the green light to declassify something that took place over a decade ago,"  referring to the Israeli strike on a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007.

"Any decision I make is based on the circumstances at the given moment, and I believe that releasing the report or portions of it would undermine state security as long as fallen soldiers and two civilians are at the hands of Hamas," she said. She added that after having reviewed the relevant material, "it is almost certain that releasing the report would hurt the efforts to bring them back, could delay their return and may force us to pay a steeper price."

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