In Chicago, a 24-year-old man has been charged with threatening to set off explosives Jewish schools if Israel did not halt military actions in Gaza. Mohammed T. Alkaramla, a native of Jordan, was ordered held without bond after being arrested, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Alkaramla is charged with a sending a letter to the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago on 30 December 2008 claiming that explosives would be set off around the school unless the violence in Gaza stopped by 15 January. "It [sic] very important to make quick action before we make our decisions to set bombs," the letter reads.
The communication was addressed to rabbis and leaders in the Jewish community and said 22 Jewish educational centers in the Chicago area would also be targeted, according to an FBI affidavit. No explosive devices were planted, and no injuries were reported, the FBI said. Alkaramla was identified as a suspect after fingerprints found on the letter matched prints taken during a 2003 arrest for possession of marijuana in Chicago.
