In the days leading up to the congresswomen’s planned visit, Israel-watchers circulated rumors that they might not be allowed into the country. This morning, Trump definitively weighed in on Twitter. Israel should not let Tlaib and Omar in, he said, because “they hate Israel & all Jewish people.” (While Omar and Tlaib have both been vocally critical of the Israeli government, and have made controversial remarks about Jewish support for Israel, there is no evidence that “they hate … all Jewish people.”)

It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 15, 2019

Shortly after, news broke that the Israeli government planned to bar the women from entering, despite the fact that Israel’s ambassador to the United States had previously said they would be admitted “out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America.” Trump then tweeted again, seeming to relish the fact that he had once again turned the national conversation toward Tlaib and Omar, whom he has repeatedly targeted. “Representatives Omar and Tlaib are the face of the Democrat Party, and they HATE Israel!” the president claimed.

Read: The fight over Ilhan Omar is a fight over the identity of the Democratic Party

It is not clear whether the Trump administration actually worked behind the scenes to influence the Israeli government’s decision on this issue, or whether Israel acted specifically because Trump spoke out. It is entirely possible that the Israeli embassy would have preferred to let the congresswomen’s trip pass quietly, without any official acknowledgment. But with Trump’s prompting, the country fell back into an established pattern of banning its critics from entering the country.

In the past few years, Israel has turned away a Columbia University professor, leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and an American student. It has also detained Israel critics such as the Atlantic contributor Peter Beinart for extensive questioning, even though Beinart self-identifies as a Zionist. Last year, the government released a list of 20 international organizations that would be banned for their alignment with the BDS movement, including the American group Jewish Voices for Peace.

While the Israeli government has defended these decisions as preventing “such groups from spreading their falsehoods and odious methods from within the country,” as the Israeli minister of public security, strategic affairs, and information, Gilad Erdan, told The Washington Post, critics and allies alike have described them as fundamentally antidemocratic, because they have the effect of stifling dissent. That criticism will only intensify with this ban on two democratically elected American congresswomen; the ban directly plays into their argument that Israel does not behave as a free, democratic nation should.