Two female Arab students were insulted and verbally abused Wednesday afternoon by a Dan bus driver for wearing their traditional hijabs. When they got on the bus near Tel Aviv University, the driver reportedly said to them: “What is this disgusting Islamist look? You look like IS.”

Another passenger who was on the bus with them turned to the driver and expressed her shock and dismay. “I told him he should be ashamed of himself”, she told Channel 2 News, “and that his job is to drive people and not to make hurtful comments about how they dress.”

The students themselves did not respond and went to take their seats. When they got off they phoned Dan’s service center to complain, and also reported the incident to the bus conductor at the station by the university.

MK Ahmad Tibi, who exposed this incident over social networks, said: “Every time an Arab woman is insulted because of her hijab I feel like it’s my mother. Hijabs are a traditional and religious symbol and should never be the basis for racist remarks.” MK Yaakov Mergui of Shas condemned this incident and said he is hoping for the driver to be arrested.

Jerusalem Online, 24 December 2014

Update:  See also “Israeli bus driver verbally abuses Muslim female students in Tel Aviv”, WAFA, 25 December 2014