Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal aid organization submitted an appeal to the State Attorney’s Office against the decision of Israel’s Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) not to open an investigation into police officers who removed dozens of Chareidi passengers from a bus in northern Israel, leaving them stranded on the side of a highway in the middle of the night.

The incident occurred several months ago after the bus driver called the police with a complaint about a passenger smoking on the bus.

The officers who arrived at the scene forced all the passengers off the bus and ordered the bus driver to leave the scene instead of addressing the individual who prompted the complaint. All the passengers were left on the side of the road in an isolated area, despite their pleas not to be left stranded and the inherent security issues. The passengers were forced to continue on their way with the help of rides from passing vehicles and from another bus driver, who happened to pass by and picked them up and took them to their destination.

After the incident, Attorney Bleicher filed a demand with the DIPI to open a criminal investigation against the officers.

In his letter, Bleicher described the incident: “On October 20, 2025, around 1:30 a.m., a police patrol was called to the Golani Interchange at the request of a Superbus driver following a report of a passenger smoking an e-cigarette inside the bus.

“Upon their arrival, instead of dealing with the source of the incident, the officers ordered all of the bus passengers, about 40 people, to immediately disembark at an isolated stop on an intercity road and instructed the driver to continue driving without them.

“The passengers, including my clients, pleaded with the officers not to abandon them late at night on a dark highway with no transportation alternatives, but the officers showed complete indifference and ignored the real danger to public safety. One of my clients addressed the officers in astonishment, ‘Are you normal?’

“In response, and without any legal grounds, one officer grabbed my client’s hand, forcibly dragged him to the patrol car, and announced his arrest for ‘insulting a public servant.’ My client was released only after being pressured into apologizing under duress. The officers left the scene, leaving dozens of passengers helpless.

“Such acts—harming, abandoning, and endangering a group of people solely because of their sectoral affiliation—are an unforgivable crime and are no longer merely a disciplinary offense. There are more than enough criminal provisions that can be attributed to the suspects. Transferring the case for review by the legal advisory unit and closing the file at the DIPI is a direct continuation of the harm to that same sector and reflects a profound disregard for their rights, dignity, and lives—this time not only by the suspected officers but also by the DIPI itself.

“The State Attorney’s Office must open a criminal investigation against the officers involved for offenses of assault, abuse of official authority, abandonment, and endangering the lives of the passengers and must remove the blemish created by the suspects’ actions, which now also appears to reflect a broader systemic failure within the law-enforcement authorities.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)