Court extends remand of suspect in Jewish center bomb threats

Court proceedings have begun against the suspect behind the recent wave of bomb threats to Jewish institutions worldwide.

The Rishon Lezion Magistrates’ Court extended the remand of a teen accused of making more than 100 bomb threats against Jewish institutions in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand over the last two months.

The suspect is an 18 or 19-year-old American-Israeli Jew from Ashkelon. He will be kept in custody for another week and his father was placed under house arrest. The court has banned the publication of their names.

The suspect’s father told the court on Thursday that his son spent hours alone in his room on the computer, and that he was unaware of any suspicious behavior.

The suspect’s lawyer, Galit Bash, argues a growth in his brain may have affected his behavior. She exhibited scans of the reportedly inoperable tumor in court.

The police said in court that “all the medical documents we have seen thus far indicate that there is no base to her claim [of a brain tumor]—just a benign growth.”

Police say the suspect’s motives are unclear. His arrest followed an Israeli investigation with the FBI and other international law enforcement agencies.

The bomb threats amplified fears of US anti-Semitism.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

AshkelonJCC