
The Justice Department has filed criminal charges against Michael Kaydar, the 19 year-old Israeli-American accused of orchestrating a wave of hundreds of phone threats against Jewish communal institutions across the U.S. The calls threatened Jewish community centers and schools with bombs exploding, and it paralyzed Jewish institutions for months.
Despite an intensive investigation by the FBI, they were unable to crack the case till the suspect made a mistake and forgot to mask one of the threatening calls by using a proxy server to disguise his location. This enabled authorities to track him to Israel. From there, Israeli police began a manhunt and eventually discovered a large external antenna attached to his roof, which he was using to generate the phone calls.
He was arrested last month by Israeli police. Curiously, all news of the case ceased in the Israeli press. I found this exceedingly strange. Today, the other shoe dropped when Justice announced it had filed cases in both Georgia and Florida. But Israeli media has continued its silence (they also can’t publish any images of his face for some odd reason). I’m guessing this means Kaydar will be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial.
Though I’m not a lawyer, I do know that criminal suspects are almost always prosecuted in the jurisdiction in which the crime originated and/or where the suspect lives. That would mean Israel itself should have first dibs on the case. Only in the rarest of cases (if at all) would Israel transfer one of its own citizens to a foreign jurisdiction if the crime itself originated in Israel and the citizen lived there.
My strong suspicion is that this case involved a deal between Netanyahu and Trump. The latter earlier made a laughingstock of himself regarding these threats. At one point, he even accused the Jewish community of engaging in a false flag attack to embarrass him. Prosecuting Kaydar here in the U.S. will show American Jewish leaders that he’s trying to make up for his previous bumbling. If he can put Kaydar away it will show that he’s fighting anti-Semitism effectively (in Trump’s mind at least).
Bibi would be only too happy to get the suspect off his hands. He knows he will need major favors down the road from Trump. So why not give up Kaydar, put a feather in Trump’s cap, and reap the rewards at a date to be determined??
What is most strange about this case is that Kaydar is Jewish and American originally. No one understands what his motive was for this campaign. His lawyer has intimated that he’s had a brain tumor for several years which caused strange behavior. Or was it the prank of a bored teenage geek seeking attention? Israeli police have been absolutely mum.
He is the nephew of the Islamophobia Mordechai Keydar, an “analyst” of the middle east.
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%9B%D7%99_%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%93%D7%A8_(%D7%9E%D7%96%D7%A8%D7%97%D7%9F)
@ Daniel: Was this reported on Israeli news? Or somewhere else?
I live not far and know the family
Mordechai Kedar recommended using rape as a weapon against ‘terrorism’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Kedar#Rape_as_weapon_against_terrorism
This was covered tonight in Israeli TV –
http://www.mako.co.il/news-law/crime-q2_2017/Article-28086d327b69b51004.htm
It seems like the motivation might have been US students attempting to postpone exams, paying this guy in Bitcoin, and then him making threats which led to a cancelled school day. At least per channel2.
As for his identity – It might be temporary, it might be due to some of the crimes done as a minor (not sure about this one), or possibly his mental issues (reading between the lines – he might be on the spectrum). All of these can lead to permanent or temporary court orders protecting his name.
As for extradition – It’s an interesting question. Even if tried in the US, they’ll probably have him serve time in an Israeli jail. Jurisdiction here is complex as the crime was performed (via cyberspace / telecom) from Israel to the US.
@ lepxii:
This theory is about as likely as an asteroid hitting earth in the next 10 minutes…
I must agree with Richard – if that was the case, the FBI would have got him a long time ago.
I must retract my last statement. Apparently the guy had a fee schedule for threats. 500$ for bomb on airplane, 80$ for schools phone threat etc’. Interesting.
Might worth a piece.
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4953091,00.html
@ Daniel: A regular terror supermarket!!
@Daniel: could you get in touch with me via the contact form?