Gabriela Saldana, a 23-year-old student at Florida International University (FIU), was detained in the early hours of April 17. According to the police report, she wrote in a WhatsApp chat with 215 classmates: “Netanyahu, if you can hear me, drop some bombs for us Capstone students in Ocean Bank Convocation Center”.

Saldana insists it was a joke. She wanted a campus event rescheduled and her message, intended as sarcasm, quickly spread within the group. Minutes later she wrote: “I made a dumb joke that should not have been made”, but the message had already been reported.

Campus police arrested her near a parking structure on the Modesto Maidique campus and transferred her to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Judge Mindy S. Glazer set her bail at 5,000 dollars and reminded her of the legal weight of her words.

The charge is serious: under Florida Statute 836.10, writing threats to kill or do bodily harm is a second-degree felony. The maximum penalty can reach 15 years in prison, even though Saldana insists she never had any real intention to threaten anyone.