A woman has been caught on video in a confrontation with a group men inside a mosque in the Jaffa neighborhood of Tel Aviv in Israel.
The woman, dressed in all black, appears unsuitably dressed to enter the place of worship with her shoulders left uncovered and the absence of an headscarf or head covering – items that are typically required inside a mosque.
After entering the men’s area of the Hassan Bek Mosque, the woman is filmed having a conversation with a member of the congregation who pleads with her to leave.
Sitting at the top of a set of stars, the woman is told that she needs to leave.
‘It’s not allowed for you to be here. You have to go out. You are insulting our religion and it’s not allowed for you. We have asked you to go out politely. The police have been called and you have to go out now,’ he explains.
The woman, who appears to have an American accent, can be seen sitting cross-legged at the top of a set of stairs.
‘Sir, I see you are trying to speak respectfully and I apologize to you personally…’ she begins.
But the man cuts her off, informing her that as a woman she is in the wrong section of the mosque and needs to move or leave.
‘You have to go out. You are not a guy. It is not allowed for you to be here. There is a section for women. You can go there. With good clothes. Not like this also,’ he explains, airing his objections to her revealing outfit.
The man then points to a fallen coffee cup that can be seen lying toppled over on the maroon carpet of the mosque.
‘You see what you did!’ the man says.
Throughout, the woman appears to ignore him, turning her head away, looking up at the ceiling.
‘You have to go out now,’ he asks one more time.
‘No!’ The woman responds stubbornly.
‘Okay, they’re calling the police now,’ he warns.
‘Good!’, the obstinate tourist replies.
In a second video, the situation appears to have escalated substantially and sees her tussling with police who have since arrived on the scene.
Two Tel Aviv police officers can be seen attempting to restrain the woman, placing her in handcuffs before arresting her, dragging her from the mosque.
The woman appears particularly distressed and she screams at the top of her lungs as the officers force her hands behind her back.
‘I am Muslim! You will all pay for this! You will all pay for this!’ she yells.
At least six other men can be seen witnessing the woman being removed from the area.
Just as the officers reach the door to the mosque, the woman still attempts to stay put, placing her feet on the door to try and halt her being removed.
One of the officers is forced to kick to the woman’s feet from the door in order to finally get her out of the door.