The Slatest

Israeli Teen Arrested for Making Bomb Threats Against Jewish Community Centers in U.S.

Las Vegas police search a Jewish community center after a suspicious phone call Feb. 27.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The story of the epidemic of bomb threats against Jewish community centers, schools, and other institutions in the United States took a strange turn on March 3 when authorities arrested a left-wing journalist, Juan Thompson, who’s said to have made some (but not all) of the threats as part of a stalking campaign against an ex-girlfriend. Now another arrest has been made in the case, and of another unlikely suspect: a Jewish teenager who lives in Jerusalem. From Haaretz:

The cyberattack unit of Israel’s fraud squad arrested the suspect, 18, on Thursday in wake of information it received from the FBI and other law enforcement authorities abroad. The police seized computers and other items that allegedly allowed him to perpetrate the threats in a manner that made it difficult for the police to locate him.

“The suspect has lived in Israel many years,” Haaretz says, and other outlets report that he has dual American-Israeli citizenship. (Some reports also list him as being 19 rather than 18.) He’s suspected of making threats against institutions in New Zealand and Australia as well as the U.S.

His motive is unknown, and it does not appear that he has any connection to Thompson. Authorities also don’t appear to have said whether they are still seeking other suspects in the case.