Terrible Accident or Murder?

Responses to Yesterday's Tragedy

There is so much misinformation and there are so many disgraceful takes on yesterday’s tragic death in Jerusalem. In response to my post yesterday, “A Not-Unforseeable Tragedy,” one person asked whether I also “blame the Israelis who lived next to the Gaza border for getting murdered on October 7th.” Others angrily condemned me for “blaming the victim,” when I was doing no such thing - the child himself was only 14 and certainly not responsible. Still others called me a “disgusting human being” and complained that I was jumping too quickly into a tragic issue in order to make points - while ignoring the fact that so many others were already jumping into the tragedy to make points that were false and needed refuting. Here are some clarifications.

The Background

For a long time now there have been violence and riots by extremist groups of charedim in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh. These are not the more moderate charedim in areas such as RBS-A; they are extremist groups such as Peleg and others.

Some of the acts of violence are against state property, some against the police, some against other charedim, and some against Arabs. These are not just a matter of people shouting or defacing property; there is serious physical violence against people. In last night’s riot, two journalists were hospitalized, one after someone threw a rock at his head. As I noted yesterday, my daughter was once on a bus which extremists tried to set fire to. These are life-threatening situations.

What about the police? Sadly, they don’t do much; rarely is anyone ever arrested. The reasons are not clear. It is perhaps a combination of direction from higher-ups not to antagonize the charedi community, along with fear of getting involved in a large-scale riot that they are not equipped to handle. (British readers will be able to relate to this.)

These riots are attended by numerous people from within the extremist factions of the charedi community. We’re not talking dozens - we are talking hundreds and sometimes thousands. Shockingly, even boys and even young children participate in these violent events, throwing stones at people and vehicles. Obviously, we cannot blame them, since they are too young to know any better. And nor can we know which of them do so with parental consent. But - and this is the key point - there is certainly approval from the adults who are there, and from the leaders who repeatedly arrange such protests with the full knowledge that children participate.

The Incident: What Actually Happened

Videos from last night’s tragedy show an explosion as flammable materials are ignited to create a fire in the street. Some charedim set fire to a dumpster. Charedim are beating on the sides of buses with sticks and throwing rocks at the drivers. Windows are smashed.

A huge crowd starts to block one bus and gather around it. The bus driver starts to slowly reverse in order to try to get out of the situation, to no avail. He calls the police to report that he is in danger. Then the crowd announces that they will attack and starts chanting a countdown (you can clearly hear this on the video). The bus driver, very understandably and perhaps even entirely accurately, fears that this is a countdown to them breaking into the bus and lynching him. He panics and speeds away. There are at least two people in front of the bus who get run over. It is unclear if the driver realized that he was running people over (a bus is very different from a car, and the situation had its own unusual aspects).

The Diagnosis by Moderate Charedim (and Other Sane People)

Here is what Motti Rubenstein, editor of the modern-charedi newspaper Lechatchilah, had to say (translated from Hebrew):

“I just can’t stay silent anymore.

“Today, a Haredi teenager was run over and killed during a demonstration against the draft in Jerusalem. Images of this tragic event won’t leave my mind. My heart is with the family, truly. But the pain is turning into great anger.

“While all the politicians—from Shas, from United Torah Judaism, from the opposition and the coalition—are rushing to blame the driver (who some reports say is Arab) and absolving themselves of any responsibility, I’m asking: What about our own leadership? What about the rabbis and the Admorim who send thousands of people, including children and youths, to block roads without any coordination, without security, without any thought for the dangers?

“This recklessness is insane. The writing’s been on the asphalt for a long time now, and certainly since the Meron disaster where 45 people were killed because of exactly that kind of irresponsible conduct. Did we learn anything? Nothing. Not a thing. And now we’re paying again with the blood of an innocent boy.

“I’m fed up. I’m fed up that our leaders’ political battles put our children’s lives at risk. I’m fed up that every time a disaster happens, everyone blames “the other” and dodges responsibility.

“I demand a real investigation. Not just against the driver, but also against the demonstration organizers, against those who called people to the streets without planning, against those who prioritize political power over human lives.

“Enough with the recklessness. Enough with endangering children’s lives for political points. It’s time for the Haredi community to wake up and demand responsible leadership—before the next disaster.”

I think that most people I know would agree with this.

The Reaction by the Charedi Political Leadership, Others in the Charedi Community, and their Supporters

Charedi MKs immediately declared it to be “murder.” Yet this was not like the Arab terrorist who murdered charedim at the Ramot bus stop a few months ago. This was a completely different situation, in which the bus driver - a man with no criminal record - was clearly being threatened. Of course this does not necessarily mean that he has no responsibility for running people over, but it’s hardly a case of premeditated killing.

More significantly and bizarrely, charedi MKs claimed that it was about “the incitement against the charedi world” (or, as the rest of us see it, the frustration over the charedi community insisting on wholesale exemptions from sharing the burden of national defense while also demanding billions in funding). Of course this is nonsense, especially since the driver was an Arab who did not know or care about inter-Jewish disputes. These MKs are simply taking advantage of this tragedy to spin a victimhood narrative for charedim.

Likud Minister of Culture Miki Zohar likewise blamed “Leftists” for incitement against charedim that led to this tragedy. He’s not charedi, but he’s part of the Likud apparatus that needs charedi political support and wants to kowtow to their demands for universal army exemptions, much to the frustration of most of the rest of the country. And he thus takes advantage of this tragedy to try to silence the general opposition to charedi demands.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Shraga Kallus, a rebbe in American yeshivos and popular speaker, has a video in which he declares that this boy was “killed for learning Torah” and that anyone who says otherwise is “sick”:

Perhaps someone can ask Rabbi Kallus how on earth this makes any sense whatsoever, let alone how he can accuse everyone who disagrees as being “sick.” Why on earth would an Arab bus driver, aside from being preoccupied with struggling to get out of a dangerous situation, know or care what this boy did with his time when he wasn’t in the street?

The Calls for an Investigation

“We are deeply shaken by the severe ramming incident in Jerusalem, in which a haredi man was run over and killed during a protest,” Shas said in a statement following the incident, demanding a “thorough and uncompromising” police investigation. Now, I certainly believe that a thorough and uncompromising police investigation is needed. However, I am struck by the hypocrisy of Shas demanding it. Just a few months ago, Aryeh Deri declared that there is no point in having a State Commission investigate who was responsible for Oct. 7th, because “it was all from God.” Wasn’t this from God?

And see too my post yesterday, The Broken Theology of Charedim, pointing out how charedim purport to believe that everything only happens because Hashem wills it, which in turn is in response to people’s mitzvos and aveiros. So why isn’t the Charedi community asking what Hashem is telling them, when both of the last “We Shall Die Rather Than Enlist” rallies ended in charedi deaths? And do they really think that it was better that this fourteen-year-old died rather than ended up in the Chashmonaim Brigade?! (Answer: Of course they don’t.)

The dais at last night’s event. The banner declares that it is better to be killed rather than enlist. Picture courtesy of Sam Sokol.

A Cover-Up?

The police originally stated last night that the driver, who had called them in a panic, was simply fleeing for his life. Today, they changed their minds and initially charged him with “aggravated murder” (which they then downgraded to negligent homicide). Why the change? Many can’t help but suspect that it was much easier for the police to blame the driver than to assign responsibility to a combination of charedi rioters and police inability to control this rioting.

“Haredi Blood Is Not Cheap.”

“Haredi blood is not cheap,” various charedi political leaders and pundits roared in outrage directed at the rest of Israel. Indeed it should not be. But do you know who treats it as cheap? The charedi community!

Those of us who live in chareidi towns or have closely observed the charedi community are constantly astounded at not just the general lawlessness and hefkerus, but the sheer reckless disregard for their own wellbeing. (This is something found in charedim worldwide, as well as with Israelis in general, but the combination of the two is particularly dangerous.) The disregard for health. The way that they drive. The negligence with seatbelts. The packing of far too many people in vehicles. The little children who cross the street. The disregard for engineering approval in building construction (Beit Shemesh recently saw the collapse of a charedi school that was built in a crazily reckless way). The climbing on unsafe structures, including by adults. The disregard for safety protocols (with Meron being the most tragic manifestation). And, as most horrifically demonstrated now, the sending of minors and children to violent riots against vehicles!

Yesterday’s tragedy was not just a terrible accident. There was human responsibility. But not of the victim, who was a child that is no more than the product of his environment. And certainly not entirely (if at all) of the bus driver, who was understandably terrified and panicking for his safety. Rather, the primary responsibility lies with those who do not care about civic duties and being part of a law-based society and having regard for others, and who disregard the safety of the children in their community and have them participate in dangerous violent riots.

Unfortunately, as I noted previously, charedi society excels at failing to take responsibility, in all kinds of ways (which is one cause of the whole draft crisis in the first place). It’s so much easier to be a martyr, to play the victim and blame others. And so we cannot expect them to change of their own accord. Change must be incentivized and enforced by the rest of us, who must stand strong and speak with a clear voice.