How Israeli Police Turned A Terrorist Attack On Yeshiva Students Into ‘An Unfortunate Accident’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — On the last Thursday of Bein Hazmanim, 4.20.23, a group of yeshiva students went canoeing at the Yarden Rafting facility on the Jordan river. Returning from the trip, the boys were waiting for the bus which would take them out of the facility and back to the main road. However instead of stopping to pick them up, the bus intentionally drove towards them. One of the youths warned the others, who scattered for cover, but the bus still rode into a number of them, causing them various injuries. Four youths were injured, two lightly and two moderately.

To all intents and purposes, it looked like a deliberate ramming. However the driver told police that he had a problem with his brakes and this is what police told the stunned yeshiva students.

Attorney Offir Steiner of the Chonenu organization which provides legal assistance to terror victims doesn’t buy the police version of events.

“When police arrived, the driver claimed that he had lost control of the bus, which then rolled backwards,” Steiner says, adding that “this is what police told witnesses who reported a nationalist attack. To the amazement of these people, police weren’t even willing to write their testimony or to file their complaints officially. Some of them were told it was an ‘unfortunate accident’ and were urged to stand aside so that police could deal with the situation.”

Yeshiva students injured in the ramming incident- ‘Unfortunate accident?’

The youths hurt in the incident stated unequivocally that the driver drove forward straight into the youths. Eyewitnesses said they saw him turn the steering wheel and look at them as he did so. Moreover the brakes on the bus worked as the driver braked after the incident and moved a bit forward, stopping again, according to witnesses reports.

Attorney Steiner demanded that police investigate the incident and obtain testimony from witnesses “who all describe a deliberate attempt to run over the group of yeshiva students.”