In one of the most important conversations on justice, faith, and the future of Islam’s sacred sites, Eddie sat down with Israeli-American activist and author Miko Peled — a man whose credentials are as remarkable as his message. Born into the very heart of Israeli political and military power, with a grandfather who signed Israel’s Declaration of Independence and a father who served as a general in the Israeli army, Miko Peled has crossed a line that few with his background dare cross: he has dedicated his life to speaking truth about the systematic dispossession of Palestinians. In this episode of TheDeenShow, he delivers a sober, urgent, and deeply troubling account of what is happening to Masjid al-Aqsa — Islam’s third holiest site — and what it means for Muslims and people of conscience everywhere.
A Calculated Assault on Islam’s Sacred Heart
The attacks on Masjid al-Aqsa are not spontaneous acts of individual extremists — they are, according to Miko Peled, the product of nearly a century of deliberate policy aimed at the erasure of Palestinian and Islamic identity from Jerusalem. The timing of intensified violence during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, is not coincidental. When Muslims are fasting, their hearts are most open to Allah, their spirituality most heightened, and their protective instinct over sacred spaces most acute. This is precisely why these provocations are carried out in that sacred window — to ignite a reaction that can then be exploited to justify even greater violence. From shootings and tear gas fired inside the mosque while worshippers prostrate in salah, to settlers forcibly occupying Palestinian homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood just a short walk from al-Aqsa, every act is a calculated piece of a broader strategy to reshape the spiritual, physical, and demographic reality of the holy city. Miko Peled also notes that Prime Minister Netanyahu benefits politically from this escalation, using perpetual violence to consolidate power and maintain an emergency coalition government — meaning the oppression of Palestinians and the desecration of Islamic sacred spaces is, in part, fuelled by domestic political survival.
- Deliberate Ramadan Timing: Attacks intensify during the holy month to exploit heightened religious sensitivity and provoke a reaction that justifies further military crackdowns.
- Sheikh Jarrah Evictions: Palestinian families are being expelled from homes they have lived in for decades, replaced by settlers with no historical connection to the neighbourhood.
- Violence Inside the Mosque: Documented footage shows shooting and tear gas deployed against worshippers inside Masjid al-Aqsa during prayers — an unprecedented desecration.
- Coordinated Multi-Front Assault: Simultaneous bombings in Gaza and escalation in Jerusalem reveal a unified political-military agenda, not isolated incidents.
- US Complicity: Israel receives approximately $4 billion in American taxpayer funding annually — money that directly finances the soldiers, settlers, and weapons carrying out these acts.
“The Zionist grand plan is to get rid of Palestinians and ‘Judaize’ Jerusalem by eliminating Islamic presence in the city for their ulterior motives, disregarding the long-standing history and significance of sites like al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock.”
The Third Temple Movement and the Mainstream Threat to Islamic Heritage
What was once considered fringe extremism has now moved to the cabinet table. The movement calling for the destruction of Masjid al-Aqsa and the iconic Dome of the Rock — to be replaced by what they term a “Third Temple” — has gone from a handful of radicals to thousands of participants in organised provocations inside the Haram al-Sharif compound. The Israeli Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, who holds the government portfolio over the holy city itself, is a vocal supporter of this agenda. Miko Peled, who has personally visited the compound and describes it as “peaceful and loving and beautiful,” finds it incomprehensible that the world permits this desecration to continue. He draws a direct comparison: if armed soldiers fired tear gas inside the Vatican or any other globally revered spiritual sanctuary, the international outcry would be immediate and deafening. Yet al-Aqsa — a structure over 1,500 years old, carrying immeasurable religious significance to over a billion Muslims worldwide — is attacked with impunity, while Western governments offer little more than cautious language about “clashes.” Peled is unequivocal: calling this “clashes” is a profound moral failure. This is state-sponsored terrorism, carried out by a well-armed, well-financed military apparatus against a civilian population that has never fielded an army, never had a tank, and was never a military threat to anyone.
“What we were seeing was state-sponsored terrorism. There is no provocation whatsoever — nothing to justify even remotely or excuse the violence perpetrated by the Israeli authorities against innocent people praying inside the mosque.”
For Muslims around the world, what is happening at Masjid al-Aqsa is not merely a geopolitical dispute — it is an assault on the very foundations of faith, spirituality, and our collective connection to a site that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was carried to in the miraculous Night Journey of al-Isra wal-Miraj. The guidance of our deen is clear: stand firmly for justice, even at great personal cost. Miko Peled’s testimony — from a man who rejected the privileges of his background to stand on the side of the oppressed — is a reminder that the call for truth transcends ethnicity, nationality, and religion. He urges Muslims and all people of conscience to move beyond grief into action: to support BDS, to hold elected officials accountable at every level of government, to protest, to write, and to refuse to vote for any politician who continues to fund this violence. The preservation of Masjid al-Aqsa is not only a political cause — it is an act of love for Allah, a test of our iman, and a collective responsibility that history and our Lord will ask us about.
