Police charge seven, including minors, over three recent attacks on Jerusalem bus drivers

Police say that charges have been filed against seven defendants implicated in a spate of attacks against bus drivers in Jerusalem over the course of the past two months.

Assaults on bus drivers have become a regular occurrence in Israel, especially in Jerusalem. Much of the violence appears motivated by nationalist sentiment, with the perpetrators, often young Jewish men, shouting anti-Arab epithets while attacking drivers.

The assailants used sharp objects, rocks and pepper spray to injure drivers at work in three separate instances, police say. Among the defendants are adults and minors.

In clipped-together security camera footage shared by police from the string of attacks, young men are seen beating several drivers as they sit at the front of their respective buses.

In one instance, a man shatters the glass separating the driver from his passengers, while in another, a young man with a white kippah is seen taking a small, sharp object to a driver and attempting to stab him.

Responding to one of the attacks, a passenger is seen fending off two assailants. He swings his motorcycle helmet at the pair near the vehicle’s front door, shortly after they pepper-spray the bus driver.

Footage of three separate assaults on bus drivers in Jerusalem from February to March, shared by police after indictments were filed against seven suspects implicated in the violence on March 22, 2026. (Israel Police)