Tnufa bus (illustrative purposes only); Photo credit: Ranbar, Wikimedia Commons
Wednesday, August 21, 2024, 14:14 Recently, in Jerusalem, an Arab bus driver closed the door on a Hareidi woman’s hands and refused to allow her to board his bus after two of her young children had already boarded. Despite protestations from concerned passengers, the driver drove to his final destination in Beit Shemesh, completely disregarding the frightened children. Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher, who is representing the mother, wrote a letter to the police demanding that they arrest the driver and put him on trial.
In his letter, Attorney Bleicher described the incident: “On August 15, 2024, at the Yermiyahu Shamgar bus stop in Jerusalem, my client was waiting with her three children for the No. 618 bus to Beit Shemesh. A No. 618 bus from the Tnufa Bus Company driven by an Arab driver stopped slightly before the bus stop. People started to board the bus, including two of my client’s children, while she loaded a baby carriage and her other belongings into the luggage compartment. The driver then moved the bus forward toward the bus stop before more people boarded. He closed the door on my client’s hands, even though her children aged 8 and 10 had already boarded. Her husband helped her free her hands from the door, and then the driver suddenly left the bus stop with the two children on board without supervision and continued his route to Bet Shemesh.
“People both on board and outside of the bus shouted at the driver to stop because there were children on the bus without their parents, but the driver ignored them and continued driving with the children trapped on the bus. My client was left shocked at the bus stop, holding an infant in her arms, without a baby carriage, a pacifier, or her cell phone, which were still on the bus. My client immediately called the police with the help of bystanders and requested assistance. According to what we know, people on the bus demanded that the driver stop and return the children to their mother, but he stood his ground, refused, and kept driving. It must be mentioned that an Arab inspector from the Tnufa Company was also on the bus, but he did nothing to help. My client kept her wits about her and boarded a bus that arrived several minutes later. She reached her destination in Beit Shemesh before the bus with her trapped children arrived and waited at the bus stop. The bus arrived, and my client’s children disembarked, crying and terrified. My client approached the driver and demanded that he wait until the police arrived. The driver refused and also refused to give my client his personal details. One of her relatives who happened upon the scene stood on the bus and demanded that the driver wait for the police to arrive. The driver got up, roughly pushed the relative aside, and fled the scene in the bus,” described Attorney Bleicher.
Attorney Bleicher continued his letter with a demand to arrest the driver and put him on trial: “The incident was a serious and criminal act. The driver was aware that there were children trapped on the bus without their mother, and he continued the route without paying attention to the crying children or the demands of passengers to stop. I demand that the driver be arrested and investigated for unlawful confinement of helpless minors against their consent and other crimes related to his violent conduct that violates the rules incumbent upon a public transportation driver. Likewise, I demand that the security cameras from the bus be requisitioned from the [Tnufa] Company immediately so that the criminal behavior of the driver in ignoring the requests of the passengers to stop and return the children to their mother can be verified.”
Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher: “Unfortunately, we constantly receive letters from the public about the abuse of passengers on public transportation by Arab drivers. Sometimes the incidents endanger passengers, and sometimes they reach the level of supporting terror, threats of acts of terror on passengers, or other violent and criminal acts dangerous to the public. A procedure must be formed to oversee bus drivers before the situation deteriorates and a huge disaster occurs. The writing is on the wall.”
For more example of violent Arab bus drivers, please see the cases below:
Arab bus driver assaults yeshiva student in Mitzpe Ramon
Honenu: Investigate the criminally reckless Arab bus driver
Bus driver attacked and tried to run over victim
Arab bus driver indicted for racially motivated threats
Hareidi passenger attacked by Arab bus driver
Bus driver assaulted passenger, police didn’t investigate