Bus driver who ran over Haredi protester remanded on suspicion of negligent homicide
Driver’s lawyer says suspect felt his life was in danger as demonstrators massed around bus; 14-year-old killed, three injured in incident; minister blames anti-Haredi incitement
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GooglePolice on Wednesday said they suspected a bus driver who fatally ran over an ultra-Orthodox teenager and wounded several others in Jerusalem of negligent homicide, as a court remanded him into custody for nine days.
Yosef Eisenthal, 14, was killed and three other teens were injured at an intersection in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Romema when a bus rammed into Haredi protesters, as tens of thousands of people attended an anti-conscription demonstration on Tuesday night.
Police initially sought to keep the driver in custody for 15 days, and said they sought to have him charged with aggravated murder, but later downgraded the charge.
The bus rammed the protesters on Shamgar Street, then continued on to Ohel Yehoshua Street, where it hit another pedestrian. MDA said two of the victims were 14 and 17 years old.
Graphic video from the scene showed the bus driving through the intersection, where protesters had lit a fire in the road, and a victim being pushed underneath the bus as bystanders scream.
A Times of Israel reporter witnessed emergency responders attempting to extricate somebody from under the bus on Ohel Yehoshua Street, before being pushed away by police.
Police said that a preliminary investigation found that the bus driver was attacked by rioters who were blocking the road before the deadly incident.
Hebrew media outlets reported that the driver had called the emergency police hotline to request help as protesters gathered around his bus, accosting him and preventing him from driving, which a video first published by Channel 14 appeared to show.
Jad Qadamani, the lawyer representing the driver, told Haaretz on Wednesday that his client felt his life was in danger at the time and was trying to flee the area.
“Only when I met him last night did he understand he had run over someone,” the lawyer said.
The company that operated the bus, Extra Public Transit, said in a statement reported by Hebrew media that it was fully cooperating with the police investigation.
“We are shocked by the incident and share the pain of the family and community,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Wednesday that Eisenthal’s death “will be thoroughly investigated in order to draw all the necessary conclusions and lessons.”
In a statement, Netanyahu offered his condolences to Eisenthal’s family and called for “preventing an escalation of tensions, so that, God forbid, we do not experience further disasters.”
The Transportation Ministry said in its own statement that it “condemns the ramming in the strongest terms.” The ministry said it would probe the incident itself.
“Public transportation drivers must act responsibly, lawfully and with total care for human life and for those using the road,” it said.
Eisenthal’s funeral set out from Jerusalem’s Ramot neighborhood at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, and he was buried in the Har Hamenuchot cemetery in the capital.
Ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were quick to condemn the ramming and expressed sympathy for the victims, as did other politicians from both sides of the aisle.
Some ultra-Orthodox lawmakers blamed the incident on what they said was incitement against the Haredi public, which is embroiled in an ongoing battle over mandatory military service, which its members have long sought to avoid.
Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar, of the ruling Likud party, who is not Haredi, echoed those sentiments in fiery remarks directed at the parliamentary opposition from the Knesset podium on Wednesday.
“Your incitement against the Haredi community is what led to this,” he said. “Yes, your incitement against the Haredi public. You have permitted the Haredi public’s blood to be spilled.”
Responding to calls from the plenum to apologize, he continued, “For shame! All day, you present them as some kind of enemies of the people…. they’re a dear, important and beneficial community to Israeli society.”
Tuesday night’s rally, which was the initiative of a group of leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis, opened with fiery speeches and descended into chaos as the evening wore on, with protesters setting several fires in the middle of the neighborhood’s Yirmiyahu Street, and blocking the intersection with Shamgar Street.
The Times of Israel Community.