Four killed in bus crash near Ben Gurion Airport
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

Four killed in bus crash near Ben Gurion Airport

Victims included 71-year-old Bertha Schwartz from Philadelphia who was visiting Israel ahead of the birth of her grandchild

An Israeli bus (Wikimedia/User: Grauesel at wikivoyage/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2)
An Israeli bus (Wikimedia/User: Grauesel at wikivoyage/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License,_version_1.2)

Four people were killed in a bus crash near Ben Gurion Airport.

The public bus was traveling between Jerusalem and Haifa on Sunday evening when it hit a bus stop, causing massive damage. The bus driver, who was arrested after being treated for his injuries, has said he does not know how the accident happened. Israeli media reports say he could be charged with negligent homicide.

Bertha Schwartz, 71, a teacher from Philadelphia, was in Israel for the first time in nine years awaiting the birth of her grandchild, The Times of Israel reported. She was riding the bus with her husband, Baruch, but they were sitting in different rows, which saved his life. They had visited the Western Wall earlier in the day.

The couple celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary last week, Ynet reported. Baruch Schwartz told Ynet that he looked for his wife for half an hour after the crash before finding her lifeless body.

“I was screaming ‘Where is she? She was under a block of concrete, I remember I ran outside and started shouting ‘Bring the firefighters,’” he said.

At least two of the three others killed were Israelis: Hayley Sevitz Varenberg, 35, of Jerusalem, made aliyah a decade ago from Capetown, South Africa, and Yosef Kahalani, 79, of Petach Tikvah.

The name of the fourth victim, a woman, was not announced as of Tuesday afternoon.

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: