The prosecution unit of the Police Tel Aviv district on Wednesday indicted an Arab driver of the Kavim bus company who brutally attacked a Haredi passenger near the Bar Ilan interchange some two months ago.
The driver hit the passenger after he pressed the stop button, asking to get off the bus, and the driver did not make the requested stop.
המשטרה הגישה כתב אישום נגד נהג האוטובוס הערבי של חברת קווים שתקף לפני כחודשיים באכזריות נוסע חרדי סמוך למחלף בר אילן pic.twitter.com/woqOn8cIX4
— אבי מוסקוב Avi moskoff (@AviMoskov) August 21, 2024
The indictment charges the driver with assault, causing bodily harm, and malicious property damage. The victim is represented by Honenu legal aid society attorney Haim Bleicher.
The indictment describes how the driver attacked the passenger with severe violence: “After the passenger indicated to the driver that he was the one who pressed the button, the driver attacked him by throwing at him the cup of coffee the driver was drinking.
After an exchange between the parties, and the defendant’s demand that the complainant “Apologize to Allah,” the driver advanced toward the passenger, began hitting him in the face and body, strangled him, and put his fingers in his eye sockets. In his aforementioned actions, the defendant attacked the complainant causing him actual injury, and deliberately damaged the property of the complainant.”
Attorney Bleicher said: “We welcome the police indictment. This is a dangerous person who attacked in a very severe and cruel way while demanding that his victim ask forgiveness from Allah – making it a racist hate crime. We think it would have been appropriate to leave the assailant in custody until the end of the proceedings and file a much more serious indictment against him by the prosecutor’s office. Now that the indictment has been filed by the police with the facts as described, we wish to speed up the procedure as much as possible, because every day that the Islamist outlaw walks free poses a danger to the citizens of Israel.”
Bleicher also called for a thorough check of public transportation drivers to identify potential terrorists and supporters of terrorism who pose a serious, clear, and immediate danger to people’s safety. The writing is on the wall, we must act.”
