"Every trip there is a fear that we are going to be murdered" Israel today

Unbelievable: On average, about 40 percent of bus companies in public companies have reported having experienced physical violence from passengers in the past three years, and more than 70 percent of them have experienced verbal violence.

The violence against bus drivers raises its head.

Dozens of cases end in serious injury and hospitalization, and since the beginning of the year the number has only increased;

Not a day goes by without at least one report of physical violence against a bus driver.

For about two years now, drivers have been waging a struggle to improve their terms of employment, and especially to raise their wages, which will lead this week to a partial or complete suspension of travel as part of a labor dispute.

But alongside the pay, drivers are also seeking to tackle the problem of violence.

For a long time they have been demanding the installation of partitions to help keep them safe, but in relation to the number of buses moving on the road, the move is being implemented in a minor way.

In addition, drivers are demanding recognition as public servants, in the hope that this will lead to increased enforcement and appropriate punishment for those who attack them.

Baha'i Golani,

But why, in fact, are they subject to attack in the first place?

No one has answers.

When the corona was at its peak they experienced violence because passengers were required to wear masks;

In periods of security sensitivity, some were attacked because of their religion or ethnicity;

And lately passengers are no longer looking for justifications to attack.

It is enough for the drivers to perform basic actions - demand payment for the trip, agree to stop only at a regulated station, and demand to speak quietly or keep the bus clean. 

One of the few drivers who is willing to talk openly about the phenomenon is Baja Golani, a driver on Line 202 of the Electra-Afikim company and a member of the Transportation Committee at Koch LaOvedim.

One incident that happened to him tells the whole story.

"I drove towards Givat Zeev," he recalls, "four passengers demanded to get off at the side of the road. I told them I was ready, for their safety, to stop only at the station. They started cursing. I continued and stopped them at the station. One of them approached me and pulled out a black object. At first I thought it was "Gun - but it was 'only' tear gas. I tried to close the door on them, but he managed to spray me. I called the police. I waited an hour and a half, and when they did not arrive I went to the station."

V., a bus driver who was recently attacked in Jerusalem, tells a similar story.

"I was on a routine trip, a young man got up and didn't pay. I woke him up, and he cursed and got off the bus. On the way back he got on again with three more. One stood up, as if to keep the door open, and three approached me. They did not want to pay. I told them, 'You "- Then they just attacked me. I lost two teeth, and I was hit in the face, tongue and hand."

The "Power for Workers" Transport Committees Association takes the phenomenon seriously.

"There is contempt for the status of bus drivers," they add, "the feeling is that the police are probably relieving themselves. We will continue to work to recognize drivers as public employees and to punish the drivers' attackers accordingly."  

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