Jerusalem – The mother of the Israeli-American teenager arrested on suspicion of calling in more than 100 bomb threats to JCCs and Jewish institutions said that her son has diagnosed autism as well as a tumor in his brain that affects his behavior.
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The woman, whose identity was disguised with digital imagery, was interviewed on Saturday night on Israel’s Channel 2. The identity of the suspect, 19, is under a gag order in Israel, though he has been identified in reports in other countries. He was called “M” in the Channel 2 report.
The teen’s mother said he was homeschooled for his entire life after he was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum and it became clear the he could not function within a formal school framework. He is very intelligent, however, she said. She stopped working as a biochemist in order to teach her son.
The teen was born in the United States, and the family moved to Israel when he was 6.
The teen’s mother said she was “shocked” when she found out that her son was suspected of making the threats against the JCCs and other Jewish institutions in the U.S. She said she did not know how much time he spent on his computer because she works nights and was not home. She also said that he rarely left home and had no friends.
She said she had spoken to her son about the JCC bomb threats before his arrest and that he joined her in expressing concern about their Jewish friends in the United States.
She asserted that the threats were not her son’s fault because he cannot control his behavior, saying: “It’s the tumor. It could happen to anyone with a tumor in his head. He’s autistic, he can’t control it, he can’t think straight. He needs medical help.”
Curing a court hearing last week the teen’s attorney presented photographs and medical imaging of a non-malignant brain tumor that the defense says affects his behavior.
The teenage suspect was arrested on March 23 at his home in Ashkelon following a months-long undercover investigation by Israel’s anti-fraud unit, as well as the FBI in the United States and law enforcement in other countries.
He also is accused of a series of threats made in Israel, Europe, Australia and New Zealand in the past six months and of making a threatening call to Delta Airlines, leading to the emergency landing of at least one plane.
He needs medical help and I hope he gets it. But he also needs to face the consequences of his actions.
Not a professional in judging mental fitness to stand trial, but my common sense suggests that if he was intuitive enough to create the secrecy and identity masking he did in this process, he should be fit to stand trial. I would throw the book at him. Not a professional opinion, just an ordinary observer.
I know autistic individuals, who would never engage in the sort of demented behavior that this individual, is accused of doing. His Mother is not going to play the “tumor, autistic card”, as an excuse. This individual was intelligent enough to use sophisticated electronic equipment, which disguised his voice, and made tracing of the calls very difficult. When I studied Physics, our Professor told us that “for every action, there is a reaction”. Hence, because of his criminal actions, this individual must pay the penalty for his sick deeds. I say that he should be sentenced to 3 years in prison, and then extradited to the USA, to face charges of inducing panic, aggravated telephone harassment, intentional infliction of mental distress, etc. If this person is given a pass, it will only encourage future types of copy cats. Incidentally, if this person lived in Saudi Arabia, where our scholar in residence, Paul lives, he would never be seen again.
The Israeli gov’t knew about what he was doing. Now they are going to throw him under the bus.
Well if he is fairly certain to reoffend, as his mother claims, we need to make sure he never gets out, I suppose.