Racially motivated threats: An indictment was filed today (Monday) at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court against an Arab bus driver in the city of Beit Shemesh, who threatened a Hasidic teenager, made him give answers he didn't want to, while the teenager was sure the incident was being recorded, and even forced the teenager to repeat a sentence in Arabic whose interpretation is unknown. The driver was charged with the offense of racially motivated threats.
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The incident occurred about a year ago, when the boy was traveling on a Superbus bus in the city of Beit Shemesh.
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Attorney Haim Bleicher of Mehonu, who represents the boy, described the incident to the Beit Shemesh Police Investigations Department as "an ugly anti-Semitic humiliation.".
The boy, 15 years old, studying in a Hasidic yeshiva, wearing a suit and hat and having a Hasidic appearance, boarded bus 13 in the early morning hours. At one point, the boy and the Arab driver were left alone on the bus, at which point the driver stopped the bus and called the boy to come closer to him.
When the boy arrived near the driver, the driver took out his cell phone and began taking pictures of the boy, while asking him questions.
""For long minutes, the driver forced the boy to give humiliating answers, such as that the driver should beat him up if they met in the Old City of Jerusalem, that he did not like Jews and also liked Arabs, and more," attorney Bleicher wrote to the police.
The boy begged the driver to leave him alone and let him get off the bus, but the driver refused to open the door.
The Arab driver then forced the boy to repeat a sentence in Arabic, the meaning of which he did not know. Only after many minutes of prolonged suffering and cruel humiliation did the driver continue his journey, and the boy got off at the nearest bus stop.
The boy filed a police complaint against the driver, and as mentioned - an indictment has now been filed against him.
Attorney Haim Bleicher of the Honenu organization, which represents the boy: "This is a shocking incident in which a bus driver abused the boy's soul in an attempt to humiliate and trample on Jewish honor.
""It seems that in the existing law it is difficult to find offenses that are appropriate to the illusory reality in which the Jewish people find themselves in their country, in which members of anti-Semitic minorities are given free rein for despicable anti-Semitic activity. We will work to ensure that the court addresses the seriousness of the anti-Semitic perpetrator's actions and sends him to prison for a significant period.".
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