JFS pupils have spoken of their horror after their school bus was pelted with rocks and rubbish by teenagers from another school who shouted “f*ck Israel” at them.
Two of the buses used by the school were attacked by a group of around ten teenagers from another school as they made a stop in Edgware, north London.
Four teenagers also jumped onto one of the buses, swore at the JFS children and filmed them before getting out and throwing things at the bus.
“We heard what sounded like screaming from the bus behind us,” one 12-year-old boy, who only joined the school in September. “People in the back of the bus were screaming, “oh my God, they are throwing trash and rocks”.
“I was sitting at the front of the bus and everyone was completely terrified and hiding under our seats. It was really scary. They had big heavy rocks. There is a park nearby and they might have got the rocks from there.
“They were also swearing at us, saying, ‘F*ck Israel, nobody likes you. F*ck 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.”