Wednesday, August 21, 2024, 10:24 On June 4, an Arab bus driver working for the Kavim Public Transportation Company viciously attacked a Hareidi passenger near the Bar Ilan Junction (see video below). Recently, the Tel Aviv Police Prosecution Department indicted the driver for assault causing actual injury and malicious vandalism. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher is representing the victim.
The incident began when the passenger, the complainant, pressed the ‘stop’ button to get off at the Mesubim Junction, but the driver, the defendant, passed it. Because the dashboard still indicated a ‘stop’ request, the driver proceeded to the next stop, Bar Ilan Junction, and waited for a passenger to disembark. However, the passenger preferred to wait until a different stop. Then the driver announced that he would not continue until someone told him who pressed the ‘stop’ button. After a time, during which the driver remained in place, the Jewish passenger explained that he had pressed the button for the previous stop.
The indictment further describes the brutal attack: “After the passenger signaled to the driver that it was he who had pressed the button, the driver assaulted him by throwing a cup of coffee at him. After an exchange of words between the sides, and a demand by the defendant that the complainant ‘apologize to Allah,’ the driver approached the passenger, punched him in the face and body, choked him and poked him in the eyes. The acts described above constitute assault, caused the complainant actual injury, and caused malicious vandalism of his property.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher: “We are pleased that the police prosecution indicted the defendant. He is a dangerous man who viciously attacked an innocent victim while he demanded that he ask forgiveness from Allah, thus rendering the incident a nationalistically and racially motivated attack. In our opinion, the assailant should be remanded until the end of proceedings and indicted on much more serious charges by the State Attorney’s office. Now that the police prosecution has filed an indictment with the facts as described, we request that the proceedings be expedited as much as possible. Every day that the Islamic assailant walks free is a danger to Israeli citizens. Additionally, a thorough examination of public transportation drivers must be done to identify terrorists and terror-supporters who pose an immediate, serious, and clear danger to public security. The writing is on the wall. We must act now.”
Hareidi man attacked on bus; Video credit: Social media