Many Jews in Samaria are afraid to take the bus. Arab workers, who are not Israeli citizens, have effectively taken them over. Jewish residents find themselves outnumbered 50-to-1.

The situation is especially dire for young women, who are subject to sexual assault. Hundreds of cases have been documented of the harassment of girls as young as 11. Despite a growing clamor from parents for action, little has been done.

Yigal Brand, director general of World Betar, a Zionist youth movement, lives in Havot Yair (aka the Yair Farm) in Samaria. He wrote an open letter on Jan. 18 to Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, who is responsible for civil administration in Judea and Samaria, and Miri Regev, the minister of transport and road safety.

“Thousands of workers every day use these bus lines (subsidized by the state for its citizens!!!!) that travel from central cities to Samaria,” Brand wrote.

He added that young soldiers find themselves alone on buses surrounded by Arabs and the situation can descend into bullying and harassment and could lead to a loss of life. He called on the ministers “to treat this ticking bomb seriously.”

For some Jewish young women and girls who ride the buses, the ticking time bomb has already exploded. Zivit Nahum’s experiences led her to flee from her home in the city of Ariel to central Israel.

“I was traumatized. I cannot go on those buses again as long as they are on those buses,” she told JNS. “Maybe one time it’ll go well, and the next time, okay. But the third time, I could die. It’s not only the sexual harassment here. It’s terrorizing people. It’s a national thing. The fact that I’m there with them on those buses—it’s just a matter of time.”

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