Israeli hacker faces extradition to the US from Norway

The man was convicted for making some 2,000 calls under a false identity claiming explosives were hidden on planes, causing massive delays.

By JNS

An Israeli who served seven years in an Israeli prison for hacking a host of American institutions as a minor was arrested last week in Norway and is now facing extradition to the United States, according to Hebrew media reports.

The Israeli, who was released from jail after serving seven years of a 10-year sentence, had traveled to Norway and applied for political asylum, according to Channel 12 News.

His request was dismissed and he was apprehended in the wake of an extradition warrant filed against him by the FBI in 2017, which Israeli authorities rejected at the time.

The man was convicted for making some 2,000 calls under a false identity, including to police stations in major U.S. cities, falsely claiming that explosives had been planted in airplanes, causing emergency landings, the rerouting of flights and the evacuation of thousands of passengers from airports, according to the report.

He also hacked into computers in airports, hospitals and Jewish community centers across the United States.

Following a joint investigation by the FBI and the Israel Police’s Lahav 433, known as “the Israeli FBI,” the Juvenile Court in Tel Aviv sentenced him to 10 years in prison in 2017.

“Unfortunately, the United States apparently decided to ‘confirm the kill’ and unjustly demand after a long time the extradition of my client from Norway to the United States, despite the fact that my client has already paid his dues for many years in incarceration,” said the man’s lawyer, Nir Yaslovitzh, according to Channel 12.

Israel should do “everything possible for the immediate release of my client from detention and not turn a deaf ear in the face of the ongoing injustice … waged against him,” he added.