Egged Public Bus Company Fires Many Of Its Arab Drivers

Israel’s Egged public bus company has summarily fired 27 Arab bus drivers. The Arab drivers tried to stage work slowdowns and a strike after a fellow Arab driver was found hanged in his bus. Several other Arab drivers say the man had signs of violence on his body. But an autopsy done by Israel’s national forensic center found the death a suicide.

 

 

Egged Public Bus Company Fires Many Of Its Arab Drivers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Israel’s Egged public bus company has summarily fired 27 Arab bus drivers, Yeshiva World reported.

The Arab drivers tried to stage work slowdowns and a strike after a fellow Arab driver was found hanged in his bus earlier this week. Several Arab drivers who saw the driver's body said it showed signs of violence. But an autopsy done by Israel’s national forensic center found the death a suicide.

An Arab pathologist who joined in that autopsy reportedly agreed with that finding at the autopsy but told Arab media shortly afterward that the death was a murder.

Arab Egged drivers complain about anti-Arab harassment from Jewish passengers and about related issues, and say police and Egged do not take the harassment and threats against them seriously.

Egged’s supervisor for the haredi community Oren Rom told reportedly told the haredi news website Kikar HaShabbat about the firings and said that they fired Arabs would be replaced by 50 new haredi drivers who conveniently happen to be in training. He also said more Arab drivers will almost certainly be fired.

The Arab drivers were reportedly fired after haredi Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Rav Yitzchak Pindrus and other haredi sources demanded it. Pindrus is now also demanding the Egged release the names of the 27 Arab drivers it has fired so far, so the fired drivers are not hired by private school bus companies.

“We may not give work to terrorist drivers,” Pindrus wrote.

Absent a specific threat to do physical harm or a clear link to terrorism or criminal activity, it is likely illegal to fire those Arab drivers.

But in Israel, anti-discrimination law – like many other laws of the country – is often applied unequally, and Arab Israelis often complain about discriminatory enforcement and discriminatory lack of enforcement of the law.

Two years ago, Egged’s CEO said Egged is a haredi company when it operates in Jerusalem, and that it caters to the haredi population of the city. To so cater to haredim, Egged openly discriminated against secular Israelis, women and other passengers.

Facing a loss in the High Court of Justice that had the potential to strip Egged of its monopoly in the city, Egged eventually relented and stopped its open discrimination. It began running ads on its buses that depicted women and depicted non-Orthodox events. Its buses were vandalized almost immediately, allegedly by haredim.

While the government was responsible to pay for the damage, no arrests were made.

Update 2:10 pm CST – Ha'aretz reported that the 27 Arab bus drivers quit after Egged refused to take their security concerns seriously:

…Twenty-seven East Jerusalem bus drivers quit their jobs on Thursday and dozens of Palestinian drivers employed by bus company Egged have gone on strike for fear of being attacked. The walkout began after driver Yusuf Hassan al-Ramouni was found hanged in his bus in the capital this week.

The bus drivers say Ramouni was murdered by Jewish extremists, despite the coroner’s report that he had committed suicide.

“People are frightened,” says Ala Jalgal, a driver who quit. “They have children; some of their wives tore up their clothes so they couldn’t go to work.”

Egged spokesman Ron Ratner commented on the drivers’ walkout. “In the last few days a handful of drivers from the eastern part of the city have chosen to stop working at Egged for personal reasons,” he said.

“It’s a big privilege to be an Egged driver, and we don’t stand in the way of anyone who gives it up. The drivers’ feelings following the suicide are understandable, but even in these tense days they’re in no danger if they go back to work.”…

[Hat Tip: Seymour.]

Comments

[typadder]

What outrageous distortion!!! The only security concerns not taken seriously, are those of the passengers who would be subject to traveling with terrorist drivers. What other legitimate reason is there for a driver walk out in response to a suicide?