"I would beat you up". Humiliated hareidi in interview

Yechiel Iluz, a hareidi student, 29 years old, was waiting on Thursday two weeks ago for an Egged bus no. 450 from Jerusalem to his city of residence.

When he went on to the bus, he came across severe humiliation which included shouting and threats from the driver, "He went up to me and said – if I wasn't on duty, I would beat you up", he related in a video interview to Behadrey Haredim. "It hurt me very much".

At 22:00pm he arrived at the bus stop situated at the exit of the city: "More than 4 buses went by," he recalls. "At the sixth bus we decided that we are stopping the bus and standing in front of it".

The driver stopped the bus at the stop, "he said that only 2 passengers should go up. I was the third or fourth in line, and the driver said to me, "You're not going up! On principle, I'm not driving if you go up to the bus," tells Iluz in the interview. Because of the long wait, Iluz decided not to give up. "I decided to stay on the bus, and I asked him, "Why aren't you driving?" and he answered, "Even if you die, I won't drive".

After about 20 minutes of delay, Iluz got up towards the driver's seat and said to him: "If I hurt your feelings and didn't notice, I apologize". And then instead of accepting his apology, the humiliation continued. "He said to me – "If I wasn't in the Egged uniform, I would beat you up"".

One of the passengers saw that the tones on the bus are rising, and gave Iluz his ticket. "The driver agreed to take all the passengers, as long as I get off the bus. Everyone backed me, they said to me: under all circumstances, we're with you".
Only after about an hour, the driver agreed to drive. "I placed a complaint at the company's ombudsman but until this day I did not get a response," he relates. "I'm scared, I don't know what will be next time I have to travel with this driver," he says. "I certainly hope that everything will go by peacefully."

Ron Retner, the Egged spokesman, responded to Behadrey Haredim: "Yechiel Iluz's complaint was received through Egged's Facebook on the 9.8.12 and was transferred to the public appeal department. Seemingly, this is unacceptable behavior which does not suit what is expected of a driver in a public vehicle, and does not adhere to Egged's service contract.

"Egged's supervision committee will summon the driver for clarification, and in case it appeard that this unusual complaint is substantial, the committee will decide to take measures against the driver."

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