Stones thrown at organization’s Shabbat bus
A bus run by the cooperative Noa Tanua between Bat Yam and Tel Aviv is attacked; nobody is injured; the organization says their resolve is only strengthened.
Stones were thrown on Saturday in Bat Yam at a bus operating for a group that provides a form of public transportation on Shabbat. There were no injuries, and the police opened an investigation after the bus driver filed a complaint.
Noa Tanua is a non-profit cooperative that has been operating for two years. Its attacked bus, which follows the route of Line 18, connecting Bat Yam with Jaffa and Tel Aviv, was only launched last Shabbat. Recently, the association raised about NIS 340,000 in a crowdfunding campaign. It plans to significantly expand this summer and operate five transportation lines on Shabbat.
Roy Schwartz Tichon, the founder and chairman of Noa Tanua, commented in response to the incident in Bat Yam: “During one of the trips of the bus on the 18 line of Noa Tanua, extremists threw stones at our bus. Luckily, no one was hurt, and there was no danger to our passengers or team. We filed a complaint with the police, and the line on route 63 is continuing as usual.”
The organization also released a statement that commented: “Somebody decided that it didn’t suit them to have other people travel freely on Shabbat. Over the past two years, Noa Tanua has operated transportation on Shabbat to allow freedom of movement for everyone, but there are those who want to destroy this freedom.
“The violence and extremism of the stone throwers only strengthen our resolve and encourage us to continue to act resolutely, every Shabbat, to provide a response to the hundreds of thousands of residents who wish to travel on Shabbat. We believe that everyone should have the right to choose how to live their lives, and we won’t allow an extreme minority to harm this belief.”
(Translated and edited by J. Herzog)
