Senior US official in affidavit: Israel evaded extraditing the 'Askelon Hacker'
In an affidavit filed in a US court, a senior official at the US Department of Justice describes attempts from a decade ago to bring about the extradition of Michael Ron David Kedar from Israel. Israeli authorities did not comply with the American requests.
A significant development in the case of the 'Askelon Hacker', Michael Ron David Kedar, who was extradited in June of this year from Norway to the United States: an official affidavit, filed in a US court by a senior official at the Office of International Affairs (OIA) of the US Department of Justice, documents for the first time in detail the efforts of the United States to bring Kedar from Israel and confirms that a request for his provisional arrest for the purpose of extradition was submitted to Israel as early as April 2017.
The affidavit was filed as part of the US government's opposition to Kedar's request to dismiss the indictment against him in a case pending in the federal court in the Middle District of Florida. Kedar, an Israeli with American citizenship, was arrested in 2017 and convicted in 2018 in an Israeli court on a series of charges of extortion by threats, computer crimes, and dissemination of false information. From his home, he made about 2,000 false bomb threats against Jewish institutions, kindergartens, embassies, and airplanes. After his release, Kedar moved with his family to Norway and filed a request for political asylum there. In October 2024, he was arrested in Oslo following an international arrest warrant issued against him by US authorities.
The person who filed the affidavit to the American court this week is Jeffrey M. Olson, who handles extradition and international legal assistance matters on behalf of the OIA. In the document, he declares that on April 21, 2017, after a criminal complaint was filed against Kedar in the US, his office worked together with the prosecution team to complete a request for his provisional arrest in Israel in preparation for his extradition. The request was transferred on the same day to the Israeli Ministry of Justice. According to the affidavit, on April 22, 2017, the Israeli Ministry of Justice confirmed receipt of the request. However, here comes one of the central details in the document: according to Olson, Israel never executed the provisional arrest request, nor did it formally notify the United States that it was rejecting it.
This is, in effect, official confirmation from the American official who handled the case that the United States had already requested Kedar's arrest in Israel in 2017 for the purpose of extradition. The American request was submitted while a criminal proceeding against Kedar was simultaneously underway in Israel. On April 26, 2017, the Israeli Ministry of Justice transferred the Israeli indictment against Kedar to the OIA. According to the affidavit, the Israeli Ministry of Justice informed the Americans that the indictment related to 2,688 threatening calls attributed to Kedar against institutions around the world, including 1,672 calls to the United States.
In 2018, Kedar was convicted in Israel and sentenced to ten years in prison. In January 2020, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and reduced his sentence to seven years in prison. At the same time, the American criminal proceeding continued to advance. In February 2018, a 32-count federal indictment was filed against him in Florida, among other things for transmitting interstate threats, interfering with the freedom of worship, and bomb threats.
One of the significant points in the affidavit concerns the contacts between Israel and the US at the end of 2019. According to Olson, in meetings held by representatives of the US Department of Justice with their Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem in December of that year, the Americans pressured Israel to act on the provisional arrest request. However, representatives of the Israeli Ministry of Justice said that the chance that Israel would extradite Kedar to the United States was low, among other things due to his age at the time of committing some of the offenses, the fact that he was in Israel at the time of committing the acts, and the criminal proceeding that was conducted against him in Israel. According to Olson, the Israeli Ministry of Justice officials explained that they interpret the Prior Prosecution provision in the extradition treaty between Israel and the US as a barrier to Kedar's extradition, because he had already been tried in Israel for conduct similar to that which formed the basis of the American charges. In other words, according to the American description, Israel did not just say that it was not executing the arrest request — but presented the Israeli criminal proceeding as a central factor that could prevent the extradition.
A continuing effort even after his conviction in Israel did not end the American effort. According to the affidavit, between 2017 and 2019, OIA personnel tried to reach a comprehensive settlement between Israel and the US. In 2020, contacts were renewed, and in 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Justice announced that the Kedar family was not interested in discussions about such a settlement. In 2021, the Americans even requested to transfer a letter to the parole board in Israel calling for Kedar's continued detention. The Israeli Ministry of Justice informed the OIA that it had transferred the letter to the board. Also in March 2023, in meetings in Jerusalem, the Americans returned and demanded that Israel act on the provisional arrest request submitted in 2017.
Ahead of Kedar's release in 2024, the Americans tried to check whether it would be possible to overcome the Prior Prosecution obstacle through American charges relating to acts not included in the Israeli proceeding. On August 28, 2024, the Israeli Ministry of Justice announced, according to the affidavit, that four 'swatting' incidents — a criminal and dangerous prank in which a person falsely reports to the police or emergency services about a serious emergency (such as a hostage, murder, or bomb) at another person's home, in order to cause the deployment of a special police unit (such as the SWAT in the United States) — that were included in the American indictment were not included in the Israeli indictment. The Americans requested further clarifications, and in October 2024, the FBI confirmed that the evidence supporting these four charges was obtained in Israel. However, before the check was completed, it turned out that Kedar had already left Israel. On November 4, 2024, the Israeli Ministry of Justice informed the Americans that Kedar had left Israel on June 27, 2024, and had not returned. At that stage, according to Olson, the Israeli Ministry of Justice had still not provided a final position on the question of which of the American charges were extraditable.
Attorney Nir Yaslovich, who previously represented Kedar and is an expert in international law, says that "the affidavit provides for the first time official confirmation of the claim I have raised all along: the United States asked Israel to arrest Mr. Kedar for the purpose of his extradition as early as April 2017." According to him, "Israel did not execute the request, and subsequently clarified that his extradition was prevented due to his prosecution in Israel for the same set of facts. Therefore, this is a de facto rejection of the extradition request." Yaslovich adds: "The continued pursuit of Mr. Kedar after he served his sentence in Israel is contrary, in my opinion, to the fundamental principles of justice, legal fairness, and respect for the process that took place in a sovereign state."
