The teen arrested for JCC bomb threats covers his face at a hearing. Image by Reuters

By Naomi Zeveloff March 26, 2017

President Trump sent 12 FBI investigators from the agency’s cybercrime unit to Israel to assist in the investigation of the Israeli-American teen arrested for making bomb threats at American Jewish institutions, Haaretz reported.

Police sources attributed the arrest to Trump’s pressure on the FBI to pursue the matter, according to Haaretz. The teen, living in the southern Israeli city Ashkelon, had been making cyberattacks for two years, but his arrest was given high priority after Trump said the FBI would do whatever it could to find the perpetrators.

Trump’s statements came after months of criticism against the president for not doing enough to condemn anti-Semitic threats and attacks against Jewish Community Centers and Jewish cemeteries.

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The 19-year-old Israeli-American was arrested on Thursday by the Israeli Police’s cyber crime unit. According to Haaretz, the teen made hundreds of threats over the past two years that went unreported by the press. When he saw that calls to Jewish Community Centers were getting media attention, he doubled down on these targets.

The United States has not yet issued an extradition request for the teen, but Israeli police sources said that Israel would probably comply if one was made.

Contact Naomi Zeveloff at zeveloff@forward.com

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