“The child was dragged, the driver was going 70–80 km/h, reached the intersection, turned, saw a child approaching, didn’t stop — and what happened next we all saw”: eyewitness Moshe described on Tuesday evening the dramatic moments of the fatal bus collision that killed 14-year-old Haredi teenager Yosef Eisental during a protest against the draft exemption law in Jerusalem.
“Under the bus the boy was lying there, it was difficult to reach him,” Magen David Adom paramedic Ilan Gur Ari told ynet. “We saw there were no signs of life. They lifted the bus and then evacuated him, but his death was pronounced. It appears he was dragged several meters.”
Haredi protester is run over by a bus
(Video: M.R., Fire and Rescue, according to Section 27A of the Copyright ActVideo: M.R., Fire and Rescue, according to Section 27A of the Copyright Act)
The deadly incident began on Yirmiyahu Street in Jerusalem, where youths blocked the bus and attacked the driver. At that stage, the driver began to drive, with two teenagers clinging to the vehicle — one of them the 14-year-old who was killed, and another who was injured. The bus covered a route of about 400 meters–500 meters during which it made two right turns. Magen David Adom said that, in addition to Eisental, three other youths were lightly injured.
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A Jerusalem intersection during the anti-draft rally
(Photo: According to Section 27A of the Copyright Act)
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The scene of the death of a Haredi Palestinian teen struck by the bus
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Police, who arrested the driver suspected in the incident, said it occurred after he was attacked by rioters in an area outside the zone approved for the protest. Police also confirmed that the bus driver had called the 100 emergency line to request assistance due to the attacks against him — before the protesters were struck.
“According to an initial examination, this was an intersection open to vehicular traffic and not an area where police had initiated a roadblock,” police said. “Instead, the bus was blocked by rioters who rampaged, obstructing the roadway and posing a real danger to road users. An initial debriefing of the driver indicated that he was attacked by rioters, after which the tragic incident occurred. The bus driver was arrested and taken for questioning to examine the circumstances of the event.”
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Haredi protesters set fire at an intersection in Jerusalem during an anti-draft protest
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Another eyewitness told ynet: “On Yirmiyahu Street they stopped the driver and spat at him. He saw he had no way out, drove into the Haredim and ran them over. I was thrown aside. He went to another street, ran over more people there, then went down another street and ran people over again, and there was a child stuck there.”
Political reactions from all sides
The driver suspected in the incident has so far undergone only an initial debriefing, but Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar already called the case a “murder.” Before police clarified that the driver had been attacked by rioters, Zohar wrote on X: “A dangerous red line was crossed tonight. No ideological dispute justifies the murder of a Jewish teenager. Law enforcement authorities must fully prosecute the driver.”
National Unity Party chairman Benny Gantz added: “A 13-year-old boy should not lose his life on the road under any circumstances. My heart goes out to his family on this difficult evening. The police must fully investigate the driver and also draw lessons regarding preparedness at demonstrations.”
United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf said: “I received with shock the reports of the severe and horrific incident in Jerusalem. My heart is with the family of the boy at this difficult time, and I send wishes for a speedy recovery to the other injured. I call on the Israel Police and law enforcement authorities to exhaust the law with the utmost severity against the driver and to examine all lines of inquiry to ensure justice is done. One cannot move on from a loss of control and harm to human life.”
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Haredi protesters against the IDF draft fill the streets of Jerusalem
(Photo: Ammar Awad/ Reuters)
The Shas party in a statement called for a full investigation into the incident. “We are shaken to the depths of our souls by the grave ramming incident in Jerusalem, in which a Haredi youth was run over and killed during a protest. The horrific images of a bus driver driving wildly into a crowd and dragging a young man dozens of meters are chilling and cannot pass in silence. We demand an immediate, thorough and uncompromising investigation and full prosecution of those responsible. Haredi blood is not cheap!”
Shas chairman Aryeh Deri spoke with Police Commissioner Daniel Levy. “Rabbi Deri demanded that the commissioner act with full determination to uncover the truth and fully prosecute the driver,” his office said. “The police commissioner said the driver was immediately arrested and taken for questioning, and that the police are treating the incident with full severity. He also asked the public to calm tensions on the ground to allow police to do their work thoroughly.”
Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni called for the bus driver to be punished. “The ramming incident is shocking to the depths of the soul. We demand that the driver stand trial and be punished with the full severity of the law. One cannot move on from such a horrific act of killing.”
Lighting bonfires at the Haredi rally against conscription
(Video: Mordechai Peretz)
“I am deeply shaken by the difficult incident in Jerusalem, Knesset lawmaker Meir Porush said. "A situation in which a teenager who came to protest the draft decree is killed, and perhaps even murdered, is extremely serious. It cannot be ignored that more than once at Haredi demonstrations there is a public atmosphere suggesting it is permissible to harm protesters. The incitement raging against the Haredi public is causing Jews to fear for their safety in the Land of Israel.”
Organizers of the rally claimed that the gathering was peaceful, rejecting claims by the bus driver that he had been attacked by protesters.
“This evening a formally organized protest assembly against the draft law took place — an assembly, not a demonstration,” the organizers said in a statement. They claimed that “no confrontations or riots were recorded at the assembly, and immediately after the horrific incident the gathering dispersed quietly and in an orderly manner,” despite clashes that developed between protesters and police after the ramming, and despite police stating that, according to initial suspicion, the bus driver had been attacked by rioters. “Our hearts bleed over the terrible disaster, and our prayer is that we will know no more destruction and calamity within our borders.”
Knesset lawmaker Yisrael Eichler from the Haredi United Torah Judaism party also defined the incident as “murder,” echoing Zohar. “Let no one feign surprise — the brutal murder tonight, dragging a Haredi teenager under a bus in Jerusalem, may his memory be blessed, is a direct result of wild and antisemitic incitement against the Haredim in the media, the judicial system and the Knesset," he charged. "We warned again and again that this incitement is a license for bloodshed that would end in spilled blood. And now it has happened. God forbid this is only the beginning. In the name of the Lord, God of Israel, we cry out against the murderers with microphones and pray that God will tell the angel of destruction to desist.”
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