An American-Israeli hacker has been jailed for 10 years by a Tel Aviv youth court in connection to hundreds of fake bomb threats to planes and Jewish centres, including one that led to fighter jets being scrambled in Europe to intercept an airliner.

Michael Kadar was found guilty in June of about 2,000 hoaxes between 2015 and 2017 that were so extensive that they contributed to rising fears of antisemitism in the United States. While Israel has never named the the 20-year-old as he was a teenager when he committed the crimes, the US justice department, which jointly investigated his case with Israeli police, identified him in charging documents last year.

Known in Israel as the “JCC bomb hoaxer” for his focus on Jewish community centres, Kadar’s targets also included airports, malls, police stations and hospitals from the US to Australia. His defence said he had autism and a brain tumour, and should not be regarded as legally competent. However, the sentence handed down on Thursday was three years longer than the seven the prosecution had requested.The Tel Aviv district youth court ruling acknowledged that he was autistic but stated that he “has a high IQ and understands his deeds very well”. The ruling added: “If not for his medical condition, the defendant would have received a much longer sentence.”(theguardian)…[+]