(JTA) — A dual Jordanian-American citizen was sentenced to more than two years in prison for mailing a bomb threat to a Jewish day school in Chicago.
Mohammad Alkaramla, 26, of Chicago’s North Side, was sentenced Nov. 24 to 25 months in prison for mailing a letter to the Ida Crown Jewish Academy that threatened to blow up Jewish educational institutions as well as injure or kill Jewish individuals in the city.
The letter, which was received on Dec. 31, 2008, was addressed to rabbis and leaders of the Jewish community.
Alkaramla was convicted in July in U.S. District Court and ordered jailed until his sentencing.
Arrested in March 2009, Alkaramla had written a letter that threatened "Will Give You until 01.15.2009 to back OFF from Gaza in Palestine or will set our explosive in your areas, it very important to make a quick action before we make our decisions to set bombs in the fowling [sic] addresses."
The letter, which was received during Israel’s monthlong war with Hamas in Gaza, then listed 22 addresses of Jewish educational centers in the Chicago area, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
A draft of the letter was found on Alkaramla’s laptop computer. He could have received up to 10 years in jail.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
