Israeli-American sentenced to 10 years for anti-Semitic bomb threats

An Israeli-American convicted of making more than 2,000 threats against US Jewish institutions, airlines, police stations and even a professional basketball team's plane was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday by an Israeli court.

The 20-year-old's bomb threats against Jewish institutions in the United States sparked fears of a rise in anti-Semitism in the country. Some of the offences were committed when he was a minor, the ruling said.

Israeli courts have not identified the accused because he was tried as a minor. But he has also been indicted in the United States and US authorities have identified him as Michael Ron David Kadar.

His lawyer argued that he may not have been aware of the severity of his actions because he had a brain tumour and was autistic.

The judge in the case acknowledged he was autistic, "but has a high IQ and understands his deeds very well," the ruling said.

"If not for his medical condition, the defendant would have received a much longer sentence," said the ruling from the Tel Aviv district court for youth.

The court said he called some 2,000 institutions between April 2015 and March 2017, including schools, malls, police stations, hospitals and Jewish institutions.

He also used email to make threats, it said, and threatened that "an act of terror was going to take place in their location."