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Palestinian bus driver returns $10,000 left by Jewish owner

August 24, 2017 at 2:49 pm

Rear of a Taxi waiting at a checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank. [Image: commons.wikimedia.org | Justin McIntosh]

A Palestinian bus driver has returned $10,000 cash left by a Jewish passenger on his bus, stating it was his moral duty to return the money, according to the Times of Israel.

Ramadan Jamjoum, a driver for the Afikim bus company, found a roll of American dollars held together by a rubber band during his route between Jerusalem and the Orthodox Jewish area of Bnei Brak last Wednesday. The next day he handed the money in to the Ramat Gan police station.

The 35-year-old, who lives in the Beit Hanina neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, said that he saw the bundle fall from the passenger’s bag.

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“I tried to tell him but he didn’t hear me as he was on the phone, but afterwards I informed the company and submitted the money.”

He added that the cash “did not tempt him” as “it is my duty morally and religiously, and to my God and my work, to return the money.”

The police station later published a notice in a local Bnei Brak paper reporting that a large sum of money had been found, leading to its recovery by its rightful owner. Jamjoum did not receive any reward aside from a certificate of thanks from his company.