2016 Australian school bomb threats
A large number of Australian schools received hoax bomb threats in late January and early February 2016.
[11] While the motive of Kadar remains not entirely confirmed, he has stated to the media and to the court on numerous occasions that he made the threats out of boredom.
Following investigations of school grounds for any suspicious or threatening objects, New South Wales Police Force spokespersons told media that the threats were unlikely to be related to terrorism and they unlikely to be substantive.
5–11 February 2016 A range of schools around Australia received continued phone threats at staggered times and on varying dates.
[4] The police response highlighted the tendency of bomb threats, whether substantial or not, to cause mass disruption to public proceedings.
[13] While no bombs were ever discovered or used, the threats alone led to the evacuation of hundreds of schools and a mass media response and international investigation.
[15] However, such a rapid media response can prove disadvantageous in containing rumours and misinformation surrounding bomb threat events.
[15] This was evident in the Sydney Morning Herald Article, “Waves of school bomb threats across Australia blamed on overseas hackers”,[2] as it was later discovered that this was not the source of the calls.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States attempted to have Kadar extradited following his arrest in Israel,[11] however this request was rejected by Israeli officials.
[5] Victorian Education Minister, James Merlino, stated 'these anonymous cowards will feel the full force of the law' when addressing media about the threats.
Evidence was also provided to the Court which demonstrated that Kadar had a brain tumour that caused autism, as well as other mental problems, and so he should not be held criminally liable or legally competent.
Kadar was found guilty of several offences including extortion, disseminating hoaxes in order to spread panic, money laundering, and computer hacking.
[16] The District Court Judge, Zvi Gurfinkel noted: "One can imagine... the major inconvenience and fright caused when it was necessary to evacuate students from schools, following the hoax calls that there were bombs there..."Prior to his sentencing, Kadar was issued a criminal complaint notice in the US State of Florida, seeking his arrest.
[17] His parents have stated that due to his autism-causing brain tumor, and other mental health problems, he was unable to understand the nature of his action.
It is unknown whether he was employed by a group to make the threatening calls to Australian schools, and has been accepted by the courts that he did so on his own accord.
During the same period when Kadar made threats to Australian schools, he also carried out a number of other attacks on a variety of institutions in other countries.
The six stages are, 1) alerts; 2) safety behaviours; 3) response actions; 4) student release / family reunification’ 5) temporary school closure; 6) business as usual.
[19] A study by Carol Mutch has also revealed that schools in Australia, particularly those which were targeted by the initial bomb threats, will be better suited to deal with such crises in the future.
