It does not take much to sway national opinion in Israel, especially when a story depicts chareidim in a disparaging light. The incident that occurred on Wednesday morning 24 Menachem Av 5773 on a 497 bus in Beit Shemesh rapidly escalated to a top news item.
A chareidi passenger reportedly instructed a female passenger to be seated in the rear of the bus. The passenger, who was described by Israel Radio as “chareidi” refused. Things got out of control and other chareidim prevented the bus from traveling. The incident occurred at about noontime.
Police were summoned and the wife of the man who requested that the woman sit in the rear tried to protect her husband from police. As a result, the couple was taken into custody for questioning, with police permitting the bus to get on with its route. A small number of chareidim who were witness to the incident began throwing rocks at an Egged 417 bus, smashing windows. Police made a number of arrests. Baruch Hashem there were injuries reported.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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20 Responses
Can you please proofread your article?
“Baruch Hashem there were injuries reported”???
Several years ago the government established Mehadrin buses specially geared for charedim and gave them the full right to their principles. If the government changes their minds, they should allow charedim to have their own buses.
Who does this guy think he is, INSTRUCTING the woman to sit in the back? This is a PUBLIC bus!
And the chayos that threw rocks??? Mind boggling.
“It does not take much to sway national opinion in Israel”
Well perhaps the Charedim should hold themselves to a higher standard to avoid repeats.
There does exist the term “chilul hashem”
“Baruch Hashem there were injuries reported.” Why are you happy there were injuries?
“Baruch Hashem there were injuries reported”
Seriously?
Why didn’t the husband and wife just sit together on the non-mehadrin busline?
When will individuals realize that life is a test of ‘kavod shem shamayim’ at all times, on buses, hikes, at stores etc. If the media is looking for harsh news of Chareidim it doesn’t have to look too far!!!
you got it wrong his actions and the actions of his wife are the cause disparaging the ultra orthodox
you mean no injuries
unless you sgree with the rock throwers and want injuries
To #s 5,6 and 9
No, the article has it right. B’h there WERE injuries to the chayos who participated in this chilul hashem. When will the Chareidim learn that they are their own worst enemy and their actions will have painful consequences.
I wish I had been there to throw rocks.
Other news sites (including non-chareidi ones) are reporting that 1) it was a mehadring bus. 2) it was the wife who requested nicely that the woman move to the back. 3) the woman agreed and even told the police that she didn’t mind at all. and 4) it was the driver who turned the whole incident into an ugly mess, which prompted the inappropriate reaction of some people against egged.
Please research the story better before publishing.
extremism on all sides is bad and wrong. until these creeps learn to live and let live, we normal religious people will suffer their actions.
“Why didn’t the husband and wife just sit together on the non-mehadrin busline?”
Um….. Because there isn’t one?? (There isn’t, and the frequency and route of the line there is leaves much to be desired.) Apparently you’re commenting from far away.
To address my previous response – actually it might be more correct to say that this *is* the non-mehadrin bus line.
The courts have ruled that passengers are not to interfere with the seating arrangements and that there is no official gender-segregation but on the other hand if passengers want to segregate themselves voluntarily how can that be a problem?
On the 497 there is normally voluntary separation (sometimes couples sit together on the border and it goes without response). It sounds from what I read as if the original couple may have acted in the spirit of the law, gently informing the woman of the custom (but not the rule) on that route, and perhaps only then things got out of hand due to how the driver (who has certain instructions in this regard) and/or other passengers responded. But that comment is based solely on what I have read.
No matter what did or did not happen on the 497 bus, that is absolutely no excuse for what followed:
a bus i was on, a 417, was then attacked by ‘haredi’ terrorists – not with rocks lobbed from a distance against a bus (where in someone’s warped brain they could pretend it was simply an object and not being full of people), but deliberately and methodically with hammers, shattering windows of a bus full of terrified haredi men, women and children!
i was cm’s away from one of the terrorists and he mamash had murder in his eyes. even after the window was starting to crack and everyone was screaming for him to stop (90% of the people on the bus at that point were ‘normal’ haredi including many women and children btw), he still continued until some of the windows started shattering sending glass shards everywhere.
b’chasdei hashem there was only minor injuries on the bus that i was on, but it was a miracle no one was seriously hurt (someone next to me had a glass shard fly into his cheek, just below his eye).
Btw I was very impressed with the bravery and professionalism displayed by the egged bus driver. I would not blame him if he and his colleagues went on immediate strike until the rbs-b community dobs in all the terrorists to the police..they deserve a safe work environment like everyone else.
i wonder what some of the readers of this site (who live in la-la land where every story in the media is complete fantasy) would have done if u had been the egged driver on our bus? would u have:
1. ran over the terrorist blocking the bus (who was allowing his friend to smash the windows on the side of the bus)
2. kept a cool head, slowly moving the bus away from the terrorists (without hitting them) and calling the police.
3. stopped the bus, asked the terrorist for the hammer, and helped him shatter more windows and injure innocent normal frum jews
(if you were wondering, the not-frum-yet bus driver, who was calm and professional before, during and after the attack, picked no 2.)
unfortunately l/term solution for this is years away (as these crazies are mamash indoctrinated, you should have seen the look in this robot’s eyes) but in the meantime i propose one or more of the following:
1. no more accordion buses during the summer (if this would have been a normal intercity bus it would have been much harder to attack)
2. direct buses from rbs-a to yerushalayim using the new road. people in rbs-b can organize their own separate buses with private companies and leave the rest of society alone.
3. pay for bullet and rock-proof buses using arnona money from rbs-b.
4. police escort with every bus going through rbs-b. if a crazy person is attacking innocent people with a hammer, a policeman should have the right to shoot them in the leg until they stop (why should they be treated any differently than arabs attacking buses in east jerusalem chas vesholom?) would also make it easier to identify the crazies.
ironic that im planning to move to rbs-a next month, and over the past few months i have been defending rbs people saying that the crazies are a tiny minority! when will the Gedolim finally speak out and stop this chillul hashem!
come on YWN, get your facts straight! I just saw the article on ha’aretz, and it states there very clearly, that the woman asked to move was a new olah who wasn’t aware of the concept and agreed to move and was helped to do so by the wife of the couple who asked her kindly to relocate. She had absolutely no problem with that. It was the driver who stirred up a controversy by then refusing to drive and calling the police to arrest the couple. The protest that followed (whose methods are wrong, and illogical to boot) was protesting the unfair treatment which the couple received, by egged, and being arrested for no good reason.
Charaydim means tremblers. From whom do they tremble?? Not from the Almighty. Maybe from the evil that lurks in their hearts and are subconsciously aware of them, so they take it out on other Jews. Like the hand washing obsession by people who feel dirty all the time.
The protest that followed (whose methods are wrong, and illogical to boot) was protesting the unfair treatment which the couple received, by egged, and being arrested for no good reason. –
DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, DANGERMENT TO PEOPLE is allowed for unfair treatment & unfair arrest…..where is your Toras Hashem???
someemesplease: The incidents that occurred after the Israeli Police falsely arrested an innocent Chareidi woman for nicely asking another woman to move to the back with her, and the other woman happily agreeing to do so, was a result of the correct anger Chareidim had over such a false arrest — something that is all too common against Chareidim by the Israel Police with the Israeli media happily lying in its reports.