Mohammed Abd al-Hadi, a bus driver from the town of Fureidis, was assaulted late on Saturday by a group of teenagers near Petah Tikva, while driving a route to Bnei Brak. According to passenger testimonies and video footage of the incident, the teens cursed at Abd al-Hadi and tried to attack him.
When passengers intervened and pushed them out, the attackers smashed windows with the bus’s emergency hammer, while a toddler sat nearby and was shielded by her mother.
Violent attack of an Arab bus driver captured on camera
“I’ve been a public bus driver for 15 years,” Abd al-Hadi told Ynet. “We’ve witnessed many things—we suffer from both verbal and physical violence, and everyone knows it.”
He said there was a group of youths among his passengers who were shouting and vandalizing the bus. “I asked them to calm down and stop what they were doing, but they hurled insults and yelled racist slurs like ‘Jewish soul, Arab son of a bitch’ and ‘Death to Arabs.’ A Jewish passenger confronted them, and then they began smashing the bus windows from outside, which caused panic, screams and crying among the passengers.”
He said the teens used the emergency hammer, meant only for life-threatening situations, and then fled. According to him, a female passenger was injured in the face by flying glass shards. Police were called to the scene, and he has since filed a complaint. “The bus is new and equipped with cameras—the entire incident is documented in both audio and video,” he said.
“We demand that the Transportation Ministry and the government officially recognize bus driving as an official position. If this is done, it would create a legal deterrent against anyone who dares attack a public bus driver.”