JEWISH TEEN IS BOMB THREAT SUSPECT

AN Israeli-American teenager was arrested last week on suspicion of making more than 100 bomb threats against Jewish institutions across America and around the world over the past three months.

Michael Kaydar, 19, is thought to have used technologies including Google Voice, a call forwarding service; and Bitcoin, a digital currency, to make the threats.

Israeli police arrested him at his home in southern Israel and detained him at Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court on March 24.

Kaydar allegedly used a technology called SpoofCard to mask caller ID. When police subpoenaed SpoofCard’s parent company to trace the call’s real number, they discovered that he had called from a disposable Google Voice number and, with the help of technology, disguised his voice to sound like a woman.

The suspect, who has Israeli and American citizenship, allegedly paid for the service through digital currency Bitcoin, which is also untraceable, and made his IP address undetectable.

But an apparent slip-up, whereby he forgot to trace his internet connection through a proxy server, eventually enabled police to track him down.

The suspect’s father was also arrested, and a judge ordered both to remain in custody for eight additional days.

Haaretz reported reported that the IDF had refused to draft Kaydar after finding him unfit for service.

The suspect’s motive is unknown.

He is said to have been entirely homeschooled by his parents.

Attorney Galit Bash, who represents the suspect, said that “this is a young man without a criminal record who from a young age has suffered from severe medical problems. There is concern that his medical condition affects his cognitive functioning. Therefore, we asked the court to order that the young man be referred for a medical examination.”