Officers from the Afula division of juvenile justice have arrested 10 children between the ages of 9 and 14 in the past few weeks on suspicion of throwing stones at buses.
The stone throwing incidents involved several different groups of children, which the police say are unrelated. Nevertheless, the investigators said the children explained they had committed the acts out of a desire to perform a prank and that all those who followed through, were perceived as “men.”
The events have taken place over the past few months, and time and again, drivers at Egged and Superbus complained that vandals were throwing stones at the buses. No injuries were incurred as a result of the stone-throwing, but the windows of the buses were shattered.
The stones were thrown at buses on Route 65, which runs from Afula and passes between Afula Illit and Givat Hamoreh, before continuing northward.
Following the increasing complaints, the investigators went undercover, scouting the area and travelling on the bus lines that suffered the brunt of the attacks.
The police said that suspects were soon arrested. "It was not an organized gang, but small groups of children who would go down the street and throw stones as a matter of course," the investigators said. "They did not even think about the risks, they just treated it as a prank."
The children stated during their interrogation that anyone who dared throw stones at buses would be considered “a man."
The children's parents were also summoned to the police station, and as the interrogation wrapped up, they posted their bail.
Police said that the investigation materials would soon be transferred to the Northern District Prosecutor's Office, where it will be decided whether the children, some of whom are under the age of criminal responsibility, should be brought to trial.
(Translated and edited by N. Elias)