A NIS 130,000 lawsuit has been filed against Israel Police and two police officers for forcing 40 passengers off a bus at the Golani Junction after one passenger was caught smoking an electronic cigarette, leaving them stranded on the side of a highway in the middle of the night.

As YWN reported earlier this year, the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) refused to open an investigation into the officers involved in the incident.

The incident occurred on the night of October 19–20, 2025. Several dozen passengers, most of them Chareidi and religious, were traveling on Superbus Route 859 from Modi’in Illit to Tiveria. During the trip, one passenger began smoking an electronic cigarette. The driver stopped at a bus stop near Golani Junction and called the police.

After arriving at the scene, the officers spoke with the driver and then ordered all passengers to get off the bus, even though they were not involved in the incident. The passengers asked to continue their journey, but the officers ordered them to take their belongings and leave the bus.

One of the officers even threatened to arrest a passenger after he asked, “Are you normal?” The officer backed down only after the passenger apologized.

The officers then instructed the driver to continue the route with an empty bus, leaving dozens of passengers behind at the bus stop despite their protests. The passengers were forced to complete their journey by hitchhiking. Some of them were picked up by another bus driver who happened to pass by and stopped for them.

Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal aid organization said, “This was a serious incident involving the unjustified mistreatment of innocent passengers who simply wanted to reach their destination. They engaged in no violence whatsoever, yet found themselves abandoned on the side of the road in the middle of the night. We will not rest until those responsible are held fully accountable through both criminal and civil proceedings.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)