The father of the Israeli-American teen who sent hundreds of bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Day Schools and other Jewish institutions in the U.S. and elsewhere has apologized.
In a shadowed public appearance on Israel’s Channel 2 news, appearing in silhouette two days after the 18-year-old’s mother blamed her son’s autism and a brain tumor for the threats he made, the boy’s father essentially did the same.
Emphasizing “there was no hatred” behind the calls, the boy’s father said it was the “illness” that pushed him.
“The child is different,” he said. “He is unique. There was no motive of hatred. The motive was illness.”
Using the pseudonym “Eli” he said he wanted to apologize to American Jews: “To all the Jews in America I want to say c learly that we are very, ver sorry from the bottom of our hearts.
“Very sorry.”