“This is a shocking incident in which a bus driver abused the boy in an attempt to humiliate him and disrespect Jews,” his lawyer stated.
An indictment was filed in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court this week against an Arab bus driver who worked in the city of Beit Shemesh. The indictment was filed following an incident in which the driver threatened a Jewish boy traveling on his bus and harassed him for several minutes.
Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu legal organization, representing the boy, described the incident to the Beit Shemesh Police Investigations Department as an “ugly antisemitic humiliation.”
The incident happened about a year ago, when an ultra-Orthodox boy boarded the bus early in the morning. At one point, the boy was the only passenger on the bus. The driver then stopped the bus and told the boy to approach him.
“The boy went to the driver, who took out his cell phone and began filming him while he asked him questions,” according to Honenu.
“For several minutes, the driver forced the boy to give humiliating answers, such as that the driver should beat him if they meet in the Old City of Jerusalem, to say that he does not like Jews and he likes Arabs, and more,” Haim Bleicher wrote to the police.
The driver also told the boy to repeat an Arabic sentence, the meaning of which he did not know. After several minutes of cruel humiliation the driver continued his journey, and the boy got off at the nearest bus stop, shaken and very upset.
The boy filed a complaint with the police against the driver, and as stated, an indictment has now been filed against him.
“This is a shocking incident in which a bus driver abused the boy in an attempt to humiliate him and disrespect Jews,” Bleicher stated.
“It seems that within the existing law it is difficult to find a legal offense that covers this crazy situation of outright antisemitism towards a Jew in our country,” he said.
“Members of antisemitic minorities have freedom to act in a despicable manner. We will work to ensure that the court addresses the seriousness of this antisemitic act and sends him to prison for a significant period.”