Pupils from JFS expressed their shock after their school bus was bombarded with rocks and debris by youths from a different school, who yelled “f*ck Israel” at them.
A gang of approximately 10 youths from another school assaulted two buses utilised by the school during a halt in Edgware, north London.
Four adolescents boarded one of the buses, verbally assaulted the JFS youngsters, recorded them, and thereafter exited to hurl objects at the bus.
“We heard what appeared to be screaming from the bus behind us,” stated a 12-year-old child who had recently enrolled in the school in September.Individuals at the rear of the bus were exclaiming, “Oh my God, they are hurling refuse and stones.”
I was seated at the front of the bus while everyone else was utterly afraid and cowering beneath their seats. It was quite frightening. They possessed substantial, weighty boulders. A adjacent park may be the source of the rocks.
“They were also swearing at us, saying, ‘Fck Israel, nobody likes you. Fck off you b*tches.’ They were filming us like they were enjoying it. There were lots of people in the street and no one tried to stop them. I hope that something like that won’t happen again because it made me scared.”
Gabi, an 11-year-old who was on the bus behind, described how four of the teenagers jumped on the double decker bus, which is run by Transport for London, when it made a stop.
“They came on and they did not look friendly,” she said. “They went upstairs and started swearing and showing the middle finger. I saw them when they ran downstairs – they were filming us – and then they got off and started throwing things at the bus. I don’t know where they got the rocks from – maybe they had them in their bags.
“None of us knew what to do. Some people got off the bus to maybe run away but it was far from my stop so I stayed on the bus. They were swearing at us and filming us. We don’t know what they are going to do with that video or why they did what they did.”
One parent who called the police, who came to his house to take a statement, said he was shocked at what had happened.
“Nothing prepares you for this as a parent,” he said. “It is hard to know what the right thing to tell your child is. I’ll discuss the Israel Palestine conflict with anyone but violence shouldn’t come into it, especially not against kids. It makes me wonder what sort of hate these children are being taught at school.”
The pupils are being supported by the CST. The organisation’s Dave Rich said: “This stop is near another school and there has been trouble before from children from this other school. We are supporting JFS and speaking to the other school to see if they can deal with it. All schools have a police officer attached and we are also speaking to them and have suggested they enhance police presence at the bus stop to ensure there is no more trouble.
“It must have been frightening for the kids. We are hoping the police can make sure this all calms down.”
In an email to parents, JFS said: “You may have seen an article in the JC about a recent incident involving one of our school buses.
“It appears to have involved four youths from a local secondary school boarding the bus and shouting anti-Semitic remarks. The local schools have been extremely cooperative, where previous incidents have been concerned, and this should be no different. We are in touch with the school involved and the Police are also investigating the incident separately.
“Going forward, we have spoken with the bus company, and should there be any further incidents, the Police will be called immediately. On this occasion, there was a temporary driver. Their normal team has been driving the school buses for the last twenty years and do everything they can to keep your children safe.”
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.