Dual US-Israeli citizen charged with threatening Jewish community centers, DOJ says

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Israeli man arrested for threats targeting US Jewish centers

19-year-old suspect arrested for bomb threats

A man who holds dual United States-Israeli citizenship was charged Friday with making threats to Jewish community centers, conveying false information and cyberstalking, according to the Department of Justice.

Michael Ron David Kadar, 18, who was recently arrested in Israel, was charged Friday with making threatening phone calls to Jewish community centers in Florida. Kadar also allegedly gave false information to police dispatchers about a supposed violent incident that never took place.

regarding harm to private residents in Georgia.

From early January until early March, Kader allegedly made multiple threatening phone calls involving bomb threats and active shooter threats to numerous Jewish community centers throughout Florida. No explosives were found, but many of those false phone calls resulted in temporary closures, evacuations, or lockdowns and required law enforcement and emergency personnel to respond, according to a federal complaint.

“Today’s charges into these violent threats to Jewish Community Centers and others represent this Department’s commitment to fighting all forms of violent crime,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “These threats of violence instilled terror in Jewish and other communities across this country and our investigation into these acts as possible hate crimes continues.”

According to a federal criminal complaint filed in Macon, Ga., in early January, Kader also made a phone call to a police department sharing false information about an alleged “violent emergency situation” involving multiple people at a private residence in Athens, Ga. Police and emergency personnel responded to the scene only to learn it was a false alarm—there was no emergency.

“This kind of behavior is not a prank, and it isn’t harmless—it’s a federal crime,” FBI Director James Comey said in a statement. “It scares innocent people, disrupts entire communities, and expends limited law enforcement resources.”

The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Dept. of Justice and other law enforcement agencies.