The Israeli-American teenager arrested Thursday as the main suspect in a string of hoax bomb threats against Jewish institutions across the U.S. and elsewhere appears to have made a key slip-up that led police to track him down, after months of evasion.
Advertisement
Israeli police said Federal Bureau of Investigation agents participated in the probe in Israel that led to Thursday’s arrest.
Israeli police described the unidentified 19-year-old male as a hacker who sent anonymous threats via telephone to centers in Canada and the USA, according to The Associated Press. His age has been variously reported as 18 or 19.
“(W) e will not tolerate using today’s arrests as a pretext for more anti-Semitism or other hate”, said Steven Goldstein, the center’s executive director. Authorities described his menacing calls as part of his campaign to harass a woman. In early March, another man was arrested for cyberstalking and calling up to eight of the bomb threats against Jewish community centers. Each wave consisted of threats made by telephone, with multiple states and centers targeted at once.
Bomb threats January 31 and March 7 forced the evacuation of the centre and nearby apartment building both times, and prompted fears of rising anti-Semitism. In addition to the USA, he is thought to have made threats in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and a number of involved countries helped with the investigation.
The FBI had made one arrest in connection with the case: a 31-year-old former journalist named Juan Thompson.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, bomb threats have been made to over 150 Jewish institutions in the USA and Britain since January.
The suspect used very complex methods to shield himself from identification and being caught, and law enforcement had to use a variety of their own complex methods to find him.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Thursday the man’s motives are unclear.
He appeared in court in Rishon LeZion on Thursday for a remand hearing, where he was ordered held over until March 30.
The leader of a Jewish community center in suburban Milwaukee says he’s “cautiously optimistic” authorities have arrested the person responsible for bomb threats at dozens of Jewish facilities, including the Milwaukee-area site. Israeli media said the man had been found unfit for compulsory military service. He was arrested in southern Israel after an undercover investigation with the FBI.
The suspect covered his face with his sweatshirt as he entered the court.
Galit Bash told reporters outside a courthouse that the young man’s condition had prevented him from serving in the army or going to school. “The suspect’s father was also detained for questioning”, according to the NY Post. They did not release his name.
Advertisement
The police statement said: “The investigation began in several countries at the same time, in which dozens of threatening calls were received at public places, events, synagogues and community buildings that caused panic and disrupted events and activities in various organizations”.
