https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=bQLO319yFRI
In Jerusalem on Tuesday October 11th, I journeyed with a Daily Wire Plus film crew including Ben Shapiro to Temple Mount or El Haram El Sharif El Aqsa mosque The entire project had been cleared with the requisite authorities So there was simply no quote storming of the site Quite the contrary and there was nothing at all particularly political about our activities We traveled there as part of the completion of an upcoming documentary about the Holy City Which is in turn part of a planned series on the sources of Western civilization When we arrived a rabbi who had been agitating for the right of Jews to pray on that site Something currently forbidden by the very authorities who arranged our right to walk and film there made his presence known nearby He and his followers were not part of our group and were not given permission to undertake their activities under our auspices Nor were their activities in any manner part of what was authorized by those who granted us permission to be at El Aqsa to walk and to talk and to film Furthermore none of the people with me engaged in any activities that were outside the purview of what had been formally granted Permission with the possible exception of what I will outline later All those who are claiming that my compatriots the daily wire film crew and I were violating the rules that obtained on the El Aqsa site in the manner they are currently claiming That I stormed the grounds with recalcitrant Israeli settlers are either ignorant of the facts in which case they should cease saying what they do not know to be true or purposefully misrepresenting what occurred and stirring up unnecessary and unwarranted trouble in a hostile and adversarial manner When discussing matters deemed to be holy and when levying accusations of transgression I would ask who is willing to cast the first stone and I would suggest that such discussion be guided by the spirit of truth and humility We could all do with less unwarranted suspicion And particularly with less of the claim of comparative virtue that so often accompanies such an adversarial attitude So in the manner suggested no I was not storming El Aqsa But in another manner Perhaps I was there are prohibitions against prayer on the El Aqsa site Christians and Jews are not allowed to pray there in In addition, there are injunctions against physical contact even between husband and wife But that presented a problem for me because I was talking when I was on the site and it is true To say that I endeavored to pray Well, what does this mean? Well, when I’m speaking or for that matter when I’m writing I feel out every word and every phrase and every sentence is What I’m saying true or at least not a lie Is it devoted toward the highest possible good that I can envision? Am I speaking words that would be not out of place in a walled world? I am speaking words that would be not out of place in a walled garden And that by the way is what El Aqsa is supposed to be by those who claim its holy status for themselves And if I am speaking such words have I done so under the necessary guidance of prayer? And paradise that walled garden is Where the elect play together under the dominion of the one true God or? So the story goes so while I was walking and talking on El Aqsa with Ben Shapiro and Insofar that I was doing so truthfully or at least not lying and playfully and in devotion to the highest good Was I not simultaneously praying to the God of the Muslims the Jews and the Christians Who’s to say Exactly precisely Isn’t God one and doesn’t that God who is one hear my prayers? Wherever I may be in so far as I am offering something up to him in a manner that is genuine and true And if he doesn’t hear because I am praying improperly Isn’t that between me and God in some manner that is truly irrevocable? And don’t all three people of the book pray to the God who is one and who responds to all true prayers? To repeat who’s to say exactly precisely And just who is it that says when it is said I am the one who is true I am the one or the ones who do and should say And if my wife wants to play along while I am there Can’t I encompass her with a friendly hand to draw her close to let her know that I’m thrilled to be there with her in that unlikely manner seeing that remarkable place and If while she is walking or talking she stumbles or falls Is it improper for me to offer a hand or a prayer? To help her along? And so I could feel a spirit of compulsion and force at work there at el axa And I was endeavoring not to subjugate myself to unnecessary tyranny while I walked and talked Trying not to be a craven slave And in so far as I was doing that And trying to tell the truth or at least not lie and trying to do that playfully While serving the highest good I was praying at least by my understanding of prayer And if I was breaking the rules the powers that be have imposed upon the ground of el axa Then yes I was storming that citadel and yes I deserve all the calls properly heaped on the heads of those who endeavor to tell the truth or at least not lie In a playful manner while aiming at peace and life more abundant while standing on holy ground And who is it exactly or what? It says that I should not and cannot do so Everything in me that is good seems opposed to that forbidding spirit And how do I know that the greatest of all spirits is not one of compulsion and force Because to live properly is above all to voluntarily Shoulder the catastrophic burden of existence to forthrightly encounter tragedy and hell itself Voluntarily and no one can be compelled to do what must be done voluntarily Is it not said in the quran itself by the prophet muhammad himself peace be upon his name There is no compulsion in religion The right direction is clearly distinguished from the wrong to 256 The acquiescence of those who are compelled is not virtue It is slavery and subjugation neither is the compulsion itself virtue It is instead tyranny to walk And speak in a manner that is neither slavish nor tyrannical is to do so in the spirit of true prayer so No, I did not storm el axa in the manner conveyed By the self-righteous purveyors of serpentine rumor and innuendo And yes, I did storm el axa in that I prayed assiduously To the god who guides me while I was there just as I do When i’m in the right place at the right time doing the right thing wherever I am fortunate enough to go and To say it one final time If it is such prayer that is forbidden on el axa then Yes, I stormed the temple mount