Two teens accused of assaulting two Arab public workers in Jerusalem
Sanitation worker suffered fractured rib and broken teeth, bus driver had arm broken in attacks by assailants riding around Ramot neighborhood on electric bike, police say
Two teenagers from Ramot in Jerusalem were arrested Friday for allegedly assaulting a pair of Arab public workers in the Jewish neighborhood on the capital’s northern outskirts, police said.
The suspects, aged 17 and 18, allegedly rode around the neighborhood on an electric bike and attacked innocent passersby, including a bus driver who suffered a broken arm and a sanitation worker who suffered broken teeth and a fractured rib. Police said that two buses were also damaged.
The suspects were questioned at a police station in the city center. The 17-year-old, who was arrested at home, will stay in custody until at least Saturday night, police said, after a Jerusalem Magistrate Court ruling. Police had requested the suspect’s remand be extended for several days, given the “severity of his actions and extreme violence he used earlier this morning.”
The other suspect was also expected to be brought before the court to have his remand extended.
Police published footage from the attacks on both the sanitation worker and the bus driver.
The assault on the sanitation worker was captured by a steady street-view camera. The footage showed the sanitation worker sweeping the sidewalk when two assailants pulled up on an electric bike, made a U-turn, dove into him and disembarked.
One assailant, in a dark jacket, fiddled with the kickstand, then handed the bike over to the second assailant and proceeded to push the worker to the ground. He then bent over the victim and pummeled him. The second assailant, in a black-and-white hoodie, leaned the bike against a wall and proceeded to kick the victim.
The first assailant then picked up the bike and rode away, as the other assailant followed on foot, filming the victim who retched on the ground.
The second incident was captured by the bus driver himself from the driver’s seat. The footage showed the same two assailants, with the one in the black-and-white sweater filming the driver while the other assailant smashed the left-side rearview mirror with his hand while holding what appeared to be part of another bus rearview mirror.
This footage, less blurry than the other, showed the assailant in the black-and-white hoodie to be wearing a tzitzit, the Jewish ritual men’s undergarment. The assault on the bus driver was not captured in the footage.
Two young men are seen harassing a bus driver and damaging his vehicle in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem on December 5, 2025. (Israel Police)
A co-worker of the bus driver identified him as Muhammad Ismail and said he was hospitalized with a broken arm at Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus.
The co-worker, who helps the Histadrut labor federation monitor attacks on bus drivers in Jerusalem, told The Times of Israel that the sanitation worker was also Arab, but did not identify him by name.
The police have ramped up their efforts to crack down on violence against transit workers amid pressure from politicians and bus companies.
Transit officials reported a spike in racist violence against Arab bus drivers in Jerusalem in particular last month, after 12 assaults were reported within a single week. A driver who was injured in one of the attacks told The Times of Israel that he was called a terrorist and spat on.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.