A Muslim woman verbally assaulting a family of religious Jews as part of a confrontation on the Temple Mount. Photo: Screenshot / YouTube.

A group of Jewish children and their fathers ascended the Temple Mount on Tuesday and were verbally and physically assaulted by Muslims objecting to their presence, according to recorded footage of the incident released on Thursday.

According to Israeli media and the footage, about 20 religious children were verbally assaulted, then the side curls of one boy were pulled and Muslims also spit and threw shoes.

While one of the fathers told the children, “Do not be afraid,” Temple Mount police did little to protect the group of Jews.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, director of the Temple Mount Institute and a close follower of relations at the site, related to The Algemeiner further details of the incident.

“Following the closure of the Temple Mount during Passover and the brief and harrowing attempts at Jewish ascent on the final Sunday of the holiday, here is what happened,” the rabbi said.

“On Wednesday afternoon some 25 Haredi (ultra-orthodox) children led by their fathers, ascended the Temple Mount. Immediately upon entering the Temple Mount they were physically attacked by a charging mob of hundreds of Muslim men and women.”

“The Muslims threw sticks and shoes at the elementary school aged boys and girls, as the Jewish group proceeded along the halachically prescribed path for visiting the Mount. The young children displayed incredible courage and presence of mind throughout the ordeal, as Muslims rushed them, spat on them, cursed them and even pulled on one boy’s peyot (sidelocks).”

“Tens of policemen who were present throughout did absolutely nothing to prevent the ongoing attacks which lasted throughout the duration of the visit on the Temple Mount because their orders forbid them from dealing with the Muslim perpetrators. The police made no effort to create a buffer between the Jews and the bloodthirsty mob of Muslims, nor did they lift a finger or raise a baton in order to prevent a single act of violence, nor did they make a single arrest.”

“In the video clip, Jewish fathers can be heard telling their children to not be afraid, and the young children, holding one another’s hands, proceeded calmly and orderly, despite the clearly life endangering situation that they found themselves in. The police, on the other hand, appear in the video to be on the edge of panic, barely in control at all, running this way and that, but achieving nothing other than bringing great shame to the name of the Israeli police and creating a horrific desecration of G-d’s name through their cowardly display of inaction in the place of G-d’s Sanctuary.”

“After the completion of their stay on the Temple Mount a second group of children and parents entered the Mount where they too were subject to the exact same attacks. Again, the police did nothing. The Jews sang, prayed and concluded with the kaddish prayer before exiting the Temple Mount.”

“As is well known, despite its importance as Judaism’s holiest site, Jews are forbidden by Israeli police from praying on the Temple Mount in order not to ‘provoke’ Muslims. This policy is in direct contradiction to numerous and repeated proclamations by Israel’s High Court of Justice that arrangements for Jewish prayer must be made at the site. This incident illustrates the harsh, ugly truth of the Temple Mount: that as much as we would like to romanticize and repeat the now meaningless mantra that ‘the Temple Mount is in our hands,’ the Temple Mount is in the hands of Hamas. Muslims are infuriated by the peaceful visit of a small group of Jews (with small children among them), and with burning hatred in their eyes, come very close to lynching the Jews.”

Watch the footage below.