A young Jewish woman was arrested Friday night, after she was recorded stating insults about the Muslim prophet Mohammed during a clash with Arab women on the Temple Mount.
The Arab women, apparently part of the "Morabiton," a gang of Muslim women who get paid by Islamist groups to disturb and harass Jews that visit the site, were shouting "Allahu Akhbar" repeatedly at the group of Jews making their way to the Mount, and could be seen actively trying to get physically close to the group.
At one point, the Jewish woman, who remains mostly quiet, says "Mohammed was a pig" - and was then arrested for it.
The exchange was recorded by leftist and Arab activists, as can be seen in the video, and the Israel Police apparently arrived at the Jewish woman's door at her Binyamin home later that night after one of the Muslim women complained, Walla! News reports. Her husband was also detained.
Fight for rights
Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir of rights group Honenu filed an urgent request from the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Judge Tamar Bar Asher Zaban, who issued the detention order, to reconsider her decision.
"The Israeli police is used to being two-faced," Ben-Gvir said. "At a time when hundreds of Arabs are shouting anti-Jewish incitement police arrest a mother and daughter just a few hours before Shabbat. We will demand that the court release her immediately."
At a hearing, the police representative claimed that the young woman shouted "Muhammad is a pig" at a number of Arabs exiting from the Temple Mount, while Ben-Gvir argued, as is seen in the video evidence, that the answer was a response to Arab rioting.
Judge Bar-Asher Zaban released the woman and wrote that "during the hearing, video evidence was presented to me of what seems to be a full video of a group of young Muslims shouting 'Allahu Akbar,' and the remarks were in response to those cries."
"The video clearly shows that an uproar began even before the Jews arrived to the area," she continued.
The Judge eventually released the young woman, with the provision that the woman be prevented from visiting the Temple Mount area for a few days to calm down the security situation.
Ben-Gvir praised the response.
"The police tried to mislead the court, which was then exposed to the full material and subsequently ordered the immediate release of my client," he said. "I hope they arrest all Muslim women who riot as they do in the video, raging [at Jews] and making death threats."
"Temple Mount police must not reward terrorism and give in to violence. "
"The case of the detention of a woman with a family just hours before the Shabbat is crossing a red line on the ratio of police to settlers," Honenu added. "Selective and discriminatory enforcement against Jews on the Temple Mount is skyrocketing and disturbing and must be put to an end."
The Temple Mount: closed off to Jews
The Jordanian Waqf retains de facto control of the Mount, which is Judaism's holiest site, even since its liberation in the 1967 Six Day War, and it has forbidden Jews from praying at the site despite Israeli law ensuring freedom of worship.
Arabs have repeatedly tried to erase the Jewish nature of the site, where the First and Second Temples stood, by destroying ancient Jewish artifacts and building illegally.
Arab riots are also frequent on the Mount, as is incitement against Jews. Just Friday, the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership called on Muslims across the world to use "all means necessary" to prevent "extremist settlers" from ascending the Mount, directly inciting to violence against Jews who attempt to visit the site on Tisha B'Av.
Police have repeatedly been shown to discriminate specifically against Jews visiting on the Mount, including a de facto ban on Jews visiting during the recent month of Ramadan and reports of them arresting Jews for such crimes as drinking water.