Please click here for a list of posts relating to cases in which Honenu provided legal counsel to victims of antisemitic attacks in Jerusalem.
Honenu Attorney Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Sunday, April 20, 2025, 13:07 One month ago, four Arab transportation inspectors attacked a Jewish youth, a Jerusalem resident, who had forgotten his reloadable “Rav Kav” bus card. After the attack, Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher wrote a letter to the police on behalf of the youth demanding that the assailants be arrested and prosecuted. The police detained two of the assailants, but they were subsequently released by the court.
In the letter to the police, Attorney Bleicher described the vicious attack: “My client boarded a bus on Hertzl Boulevard, and then realized that he did not have his Rav Kav. Several stops later, four inspectors boarded the bus and began checking bus tickets as they shouted at people. The inspectors reached my client who told them that he did not have his Rav Kav. They shouted at him to present his Rav Kav, and the four of them pressed up against him while shouting at him and threatening him. My client felt that he was in danger, called the police, and filmed the inspectors. At this point, one of the inspectors knocked my client’s cell phone out of his hand and onto the floor. When my client bent down to pick it up, the inspector punched him in the face.
“The inspectors sat my client on a seat and ordered all of the passengers to get off the bus. One of the passengers took out a camera. The inspectors took it from her, deleted the photographs, and ordered her to get off the bus. The inspectors ordered the driver to drive, and then subjected my client to an ordeal of abuse, beating, slapping, and punching his face and body. As each of the inspectors in turn beat and abused my client, one of them took his phone and deleted all of the media content. Additionally, my client saw the inspectors manipulating their body cameras to delete evidence and turn them off. The inspectors talked among themselves in Arabic while they abused my client. At some point, one of the inspectors took my client’s wallet, tore it, took out his identification card, and wrote him a penalty ticket.”
Attorney Bleicher further described the continued abuse of the Jewish youth: “The bus reached a stop on Golda Meir Boulevard that was empty at the time, and they let my client off the bus there. My client noticed that the inspectors disembarked after him. As my terrified client walked up the street toward the nearby neighborhoods, the inspectors approached him and demanded the ticket. One of the inspectors took the ticket and started to tear off the part with his identifying details, as my client tried to reach a bus stop where he hoped to find citizens who could possibly assist him. The inspectors approached him and told him, ‘Let’s make a deal. You won’t complain about us, and we won’t complain about you.’ My client remained silent out of fear. One of the inspectors presented a badge that appeared to be a police badge and told my client that he was an undercover police officer, apparently in an attempt to intimidate him. Afterward, the inspectors boarded another bus and left.”
Attorney Bleicher appealed to the Ministry of Transportation: “It appears that at times, the lives and security of Jewish citizens in Israel have been abandoned. We will continue to fight for the prosecution of the attackers. We call on the Ministry of Transportation to tighten its supervision of its employees and prevent antisemitic attacks such as this.”