In the ancient tunnels beneath Jerusalem’s Western Wall, where 2,000-year-old ritual baths still hold water and massive Herodian stones bear witness to Jewish sovereignty, two unlikely companions walked side by side through layers of history that Islamic authorities have tried to bury—literally. Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, stood next to Knesset Member Ohad Tal as they examined the archaeological evidence that demolishes Palestinian claims to Jerusalem stone by stone.
Thirty feet underground, the three reveal truths about the Jewish Temples that the Muslim authorities tried to hide under tons of concrete.
The Son of Hamas Speaks
Mosab Hassan Yousef needs no introduction in Israel. The man Israelis call the ‘Green Prince’—a reference to Hamas’s green flag and his father’s founding role in the terrorist organization—has become a hero for standing against radical Islam from within its highest ranks. Everywhere he goes in Jerusalem, people stop him for selfies and words of gratitude. His journey from the son of a Hamas founder to one of Israel’s most vocal defenders represents a truth too powerful for propaganda to suppress.
His guide for this underground journey was Knesset Member Ohad Tal of the Religious Zionist party. Before entering politics, Tal spent years as a tour guide in the Western Wall Tunnels, choosing education over high-tech because he wanted to show the next generation what Israel’s story is really about. His expertise would prove essential in revealing what Islamic authorities have worked so hard to conceal.
Yishai Fleisher, who documented this remarkable tour, brought these two men together at the holiest site in Judaism—97 meters from the Foundation Stone where Jewish tradition holds the world was created, where the Binding of Isaac took place, and where both the First and Second Temples stood for nearly 1,000 years combined.
3,000 Years of Jewish Presence
Standing above the Temple Mount, Tal provided context that demolishes Palestinian historical claims: “We came here basically to uncover the truth, to reveal the truth for what it is, because for thousands of years the Jews have been connected to this place. The reason we are standing here today in the free state of Israel is that for 2,000 years we were yearning and missing to come back, hoping to come back to this place.”
The First Temple, built by King Solomon approximately 3,000 years ago, stood for 410 years until the Babylonians destroyed it. After 70 years of exile, the Jews returned and rebuilt the Second Temple on the exact same location. King Herod later renovated it into what Jewish sages admitted was the most beautiful building they had ever seen—despite their hatred of Herod himself. The Temple stood between 50 and 60 meters high, more than twice the height of today’s Dome of the Rock, which measures only 24 meters. According to the sages, it looked like “a mountain covered with snow” because of its white marble covering.
This magnificent structure stood until 70 CE, when the Romans destroyed it on the eve of Tisha B’Av. The Romans then sent the Jews into exile for 2,000 years. It was only 600 years after this destruction that Muslims arrived for the first time and built the Dome of the Rock on the exact spot where the Jewish temples had stood.
The Islamic Deception
Mosab brought a unique perspective to understanding Islamic claims. He explained the confusion between the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque: “Most Muslims around the world, they don’t actually know the difference between this building, the Dome of the Rock, and Al-Aqsa Mosque. This has more significance than this for Islam. Naturally, they don’t belong here. They came after and just their location is irrelevant to the foundations of this place.”
The historical record supports this assessment. According to the hadith, when Omar, the Islamic leader who conquered Jerusalem, arrived at the Temple Mount with his minister Kaib—a Yemenite Jewish rabbi who had converted to Islam and was a friend of Muhammad—Kaib wanted to remove his shoes because it was a holy site. Omar told him, “No, no, no, that’s not holy for us anymore.” Omar built Al-Aqsa Mosque on the southern part of the Temple Mount, facing Mecca, with his back to the Foundation Stone.
The reason is clear: Muhammad’s first qibla (prayer direction) was toward the Temple Mount during his 15 years in Mecca—when he was in the da’wah (preaching) era, trying to convince people he was Allah’s prophet. When he moved to Medina in 622 CE and entered the jihad era, he changed the qibla to Mecca after the Jews of Medina rejected his message. As Mosab noted, Muhammad “basically killed most of them” and no longer needed Jerusalem as his prayer direction.
Even more damning: Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran. Not once. As Mosab stated emphatically: “All the Quran they’re saying that Jerusalem is so significant to them. How can it be? It’s not even mentioned in the Quran. Only in the hadith.” Palestine is similarly absent from all Islamic sources—it is not an Islamic name.
Burying the Truth
As the group entered the Western Wall Tunnels, walking beneath the houses of the Muslim Quarter, Mosab articulated what they were witnessing: “It’s very important wherever we go that people understand that this has been a process for so long since 1967 to bring the identity, the true identity of the city that has been actually buried. Same concept of burying the truth, layers and layers of dirt, of lies, of propaganda, trying to erase the true identity of the city.”
The Western Wall Tunnels reveal this burial in stark terms. About 700 years ago, the Mamluks filled the entire valley with supporting arches and built what is now called the Muslim Quarter on top, deliberately covering most of the Western Wall. Today, only 57 meters of the wall’s 488-meter length is visible at the Western Wall Plaza. The rest remains buried under the Muslim Quarter houses.
Tal made an observation that speaks volumes about who truly cares for this land: “The Muslim quarter is the ugliest part of the old city. For many years, I was asked how could it be? I mean, every day the municipality of Jerusalem cleans the Muslim quarter, washes the streets, collects all the rubbish, everything. And the day after, it looks like garbage again. We clean it every single evening, but they’re throwing all their garbage on the streets. I think that shows that they don’t really care for this land. They don’t really feel that it’s theirs.”
The Chamber of the Sanhedrin
Deep beneath the Muslim Quarter, the group entered a magnificent chamber from the Second Temple period. Tal explained its significance: “This beautiful, beautiful building was probably the supreme court of the times of the Second Temple because the Supreme Court, what we call the Sanhedrin, used to be in the Temple Mount. But the Mishna tells us that 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, they moved the Supreme Court from the Temple Mount to the main street of Jerusalem, to where the shops used to be. And here we are.”
The chamber features ornate decorative pillars and architectural elements that match the temple’s construction. Nearby, archaeologists found the main street of Jerusalem with its shops—exactly where the Mishna said the Sanhedrin relocated.
In this ancient chamber of Jewish justice, Mosab delivered a powerful statement: “They used to tell us in the mosque regarding the process to discover the old city that the Jews have been using aged stone from outside to place it below the Al-Aqsa mosque to fake the city and fake their identity. It’s such a developed lie system. They’re saying we’re liars. We’re importing old stones or aging them, like somehow using science to make the stones appear old to just fool tourists and prove an identity that never existed.”
He continued: “Why haven’t they found any coin or rocks that proves any Palestinian history here? If it’s so easy to use science to manipulate people, why they haven’t managed to find even a single coin that proves any Palestinian history here?”
The answer, of course, is that no such evidence exists because the Palestinian narrative is fabricated. As Mosab stated bluntly: “Their name is fake. Their cause is a bloody fake cause, and their entitlement to anything is ridiculous.”
The Ritual Baths Still Flow
In one of the tour’s most remarkable moments, the group discovered ritual baths (mikva’ot in Hebrew) from 2,000 years ago that still contain flowing water. These baths were used by Jews to purify themselves before entering the Temple Mount.
Captain Charles Warren, who came to excavate Jerusalem 150 years ago, had drilled six exploratory holes to see what lay beyond a wall. The sixth hole accidentally struck a water system, and water began flowing into the ritual bath. As Tal explained with amazement: “The whole pipes from 2,000 years ago that took the water out of the ritual bath, everything works until today. I mean, it’s 2,000 years old and it still operates until today.”
The water remains crystal clear, supplied by an ancient aqueduct that King Herod built from Solomon’s Pools near Gush Etzion—a distance of approximately 60 kilometers winding through the mountains. The sophistication of this 2,000-year-old water system surpasses modern construction.
The 570-Ton Stone
At the closest point to the Foundation Stone—97 meters from the Holy of Holies—the group encountered one of the most massive construction elements on Earth: a single stone in the Western Wall measuring 14 meters in length, 3.3 meters in height, and 4.5 meters in depth. This single stone weighs 570 tons.
To put this in perspective, Tal explained: “I used to be a tank commander in the army. Merkava Mark IV, the most massive tank Israel has, is about 80-90 tons. So this stone alone is more than six modern tanks.” The stone is the third largest in construction anywhere on Earth, and it sits in the 11th layer of the Western Wall—meaning 10 more massive layers lie below it.
How ancient builders moved and placed this 570-ton stone remains unknown. The stone bears scars of Roman fury: when they destroyed the Second Temple, the Romans knocked down the upper layers of the Temple Mount walls into the valley below. When they reached this massive stone, they tried to push it down but failed. They then attempted to break it, and visible cracks show where they started—before giving up because the task was too overwhelming.
The Muslims who later rebuilt the Temple Mount walls placed smaller, inferior stones above the Herodian originals. These later additions are easily distinguished from the precisely chiseled, framed Herodian stones below them.
Three Meters of Concrete
Perhaps the most telling evidence of Islamic efforts to bury the truth lies at one of the original Temple Mount gates. The group stood before a gate that led from the street below, up a staircase, and into the Temple Mount 2,000 years ago. The gate’s doorstep and structure are clearly visible—but the passage beyond has been deliberately sealed.
Tal explained: “The previous chief rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Getz, was initiating this whole project of digging the Western Wall Tunnels. When he came here, he thought to himself, okay, that’s the way for me to get into Temple Mount and maybe even to find the treasures of the temple. And indeed, he started to dig here, and they started to dig inside Temple Mount very quietly. But unfortunately, the Muslims in Temple Mount discovered that they’re digging, and they made a whole problem around that. So we were pushed back, and they filled this gate with 3 meters of concrete in order to prevent any attempt of ours to go inside, to penetrate, to go beyond the Western Wall.”
Three meters of concrete now block Jews from accessing their own temple treasures and archaeological evidence. The same deliberate obstruction exists in Hevron, where Muslim authorities similarly poured cement to prevent Jews from accessing the tombs of the forefathers and mothers.
Mosab’s response was unequivocal: “This is the wall of isolation, the wall of ignorance. This is what it is. It’s ugly, and it should be removed, and we should go through and eventually the Jewish temple should be rebuilt.”
The Religious War from One Side Only
When asked how he feels about attempts to erase Jewish identity from the holiest Jewish site, Tal responded: “I grew up secular. For me, every time coming here to Jerusalem was a big deal. First time I came here, I felt like I came to a place that we’ve missed for thousands of years. And it made me want to be connected. This is why I became religious as I am today. But I think we are the problem because we are trying to forget our connection to this place.”
Mosab articulated the asymmetry of the conflict: “The way I see it as someone who grew up in Islam, this is a religious war, but from one side only. The Jewish people don’t consider this as a religious war against the Muslims, but the Muslims have been on an assault against the Jewish people. And I think if this is understood, then the conflict can be understood more easily.”
He continued: “Let’s not forget that October 7 was named after Al-Aqsa mosque. Al-Aqsa flood. To Al-Aqsa. This is the epicenter of the entire conflict. This is a religious war, and the world needs to understand this dynamic, the religious and ideological dimension.”
Israel’s Fatal Mistake of 1967
Mosab delivered what may be his most controversial statement during the tour: “Israel made the biggest mistake after the 1967 war by handing over the keys. They should have seized the holy site, and I don’t want to say demolished the Dome of the Rock, but at least found all the remains of the Second Temple. Right now, it’s a lot more complicated, and it could ignite global outrage. They rushed to rage for much less reasons and it’s all sitting on a false narrative.”
After the 1967 liberation, Israeli leaders thought handing religious control to the Muslim Waqf while maintaining sovereignty over the land would guarantee peace and demonstrate religious tolerance. They clearly did not understand the regional mindset or the Islamic imperative to deny Jewish history.
Tal explained the absurdity of the current situation: “In 1948, the Jordanians pushed in, and they took control of Judea and Samaria, and they took control of most of Jerusalem. For 19 years, between 1948 and 1967, the Jordanians had the city of Jerusalem, the Old City of Jerusalem. It was in their hands. If their goal was really to establish a Palestinian state with a capital in Jerusalem, why haven’t they done that in all these 19 years? It only reveals that it’s not really what they want. It’s the whole Palestinian narrative, a story they’re telling in order to destroy the state of Israel.”
The evidence is overwhelming: Palestinians sell cups, shirts, and flags in the Old City markets showing the entire map of Israel labeled “Palestine.” This is not about establishing a state alongside Israel—it is about replacing Israel.
Rome’s Legacy of Erasure
The Islamic attempt to erase Jewish history has precedent. After destroying the Second Temple, the Romans wanted to erase the Jewish connection to Jerusalem. They changed the city’s name from Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina. They changed the province’s name from Judea to Palestina—naming it after the Philistines to deliberately disconnect the land from its Jewish roots. They rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city.
Walking on the main street of Roman Aelia Capitolina, built after the temple’s destruction, the group saw proof of Roman occupation: a stone inscribed with “FRET”—the abbreviated name of the 10th Roman Legion Fretensis that destroyed Jerusalem. The Romans stayed after the destruction and left their mark.
The Roman street was built on top of earlier Jewish structures from the First Temple period. In chambers beneath this Roman construction, archaeologists found seals with ancient Hebrew letters mentioning Jerusalem and the cities that paid taxes to the Temple.
Never a Capital Except for Jews
Tal stated a historical fact that demolishes Palestinian claims: “Since the Jews were kicked out of here, it was a constant struggle between many nations to control Jerusalem. But Jerusalem was never the capital of any other nation besides the Jewish people. It’s definitely never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim country. Never. Even those who came here and wanted to take Jerusalem from the Christians, they’ve never made Jerusalem into their capital. The capital was always in Damascus or in Mecca. Never in Jerusalem.”
Mosab added insight about current dynamics: “Jerusalem actually competes against Mecca. If you come to the Saudi Arabians, they would lose so much business if Jerusalem becomes more significant. It’s not the first, it’s not the second, it’s the third important Islamic holy site—only for the Sunnis. For the Shia, it’s not even that. Because for the Shia, there’s Najaf in Iraq. That’s the third holiest place, only for the Sunnis.”
Identity and Property Theft
Standing in the chamber of the Sanhedrin, Mosab articulated the core of the conflict: “Palestine as a concept meant to replace Israel, the same way that Islam meant to replace Judaism. It’s identity and property theft. There is no way around it and the world sooner or later should understand this dynamic.”
He continued: “The self-proclaimed Palestinians are cancelling archaeology, history, cancelling the Jewish identity—it’s not only the Muslims, also the Palestinians. They’re going against science. They’re going against facts. They’re going against the truth. Their claim, not only to the Old City—it’s even more ridiculous to claim Jerusalem. They don’t have any legitimate claim to any part of the land. Not to mention their name is fake.”
Regarding international legitimacy, Mosab made a crucial point: “According to international law, Israel was born around the same time when Jordan was established, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt—all these countries are basically legitimate children of colonialism. So why is Israel the only illegal child? In every aspect, Israel wins.”
A House of Prayer for All Nations
At the closest point to the Foundation Stone, standing 97 meters from the Holy of Holies, Tal explained the Jewish vision: “Why are we even here? Why did God create the world according to what we believe? God created the world in order for all of humanity to recognize him. And that place, as Isaiah says in the Bible, should be a house of prayers for all nations. We are not against anybody else. Our mission is to come back here after 2,000 years of exile as the prophets promised that one day will happen.”
He quoted Isaiah 56:7: “For my house shall be a house of prayer for all nations.” Then he continued: “Isaiah says that at the end of the days, the Temple will be firmly established at the peak of the mountains and all nations shall stream to it. That is our vision. We are the real religion of peace. This is our vision. We’re not against anybody. We want everybody to come back to worship God.”
He clarified: “The fact that everybody’s welcome to worship on Temple Mount doesn’t mean that everybody is welcome to build any structure that they want.”
Mosab responded: “There is a protocol to follow, and there is a certain temple with certain dimensions that has been there multiple times and will be there eventually. The rest of the world are welcome to come and worship if they understand the holiness of the place, dropping first of all their ego, dropping their false identities, dropping their filth outside of the holy site before they enter there. If they want troublemaking, like for example to start building structures as an outcome of conquest and bloodshed, then this building becomes the symbol of aggression, of violence. It’s anti-tolerance. It’s anti-good. Hence, if they want to remove this Dome of the Rock, take it stone by stone, place it somewhere else where it’s even more holy for them than Jerusalem, and allow the Jewish people to build their temple—if we succeed in doing this, there will be world peace.”
King David’s Disqualification
Near the Western Wall, Fleisher read Psalm 122 aloud—a song King David wrote 3,000 years ago as his son Solomon prepared to build the First Temple. After the recitation, Mosab asked about the story of why David could not build the Temple himself.
Tal explained: “King David was the first king to unite all the Jews together and to bring the capital to Jerusalem. And he really wanted to build a temple, but God told him, ‘No, you will not build a temple.’ Why? Because you spilled lots of blood. You’ve united the people. You’ve conquered the land. You had to kill all your enemies. You spilled lots of blood. So you will not build the Temple because the Temple should be a place of peace, a house of prayers for all nations. So only your son Solomon, he will be the one to build the Temple.”
Mosab reflected: “This is how holy the Temple is in the Jewish tradition. It’s not that David was a bloodthirsty king—just the outcome of the war that was against the Jewish people. The fact that God did not qualify him because he was a warrior more than a prophet—it’s a very interesting story that in the Bible, there is nothing hidden. Everything is clear and transparent, and these are the foundations of [the] Jewish religion, of Jewish heritage. We are a religion of peace, so much so that the main king, the number one leader of the Jewish people, was forbidden from building the Temple, not because he was bloodthirsty, because he protected his people. He was a warrior. So he couldn’t build the Temple.”
He continued: “There is no war without bloodshed. What we are dealing with Gaza right now—Israel did not start this war. Did not want this war at all. Israel left Gaza and gave the Gazans the opportunity to build, to prosper. But instead, they insisted on violence. October 7 was crossing all the red lines, not according to Israeli books. It was pure barbarism. There was no way in the world that Israel would just sit down and say, ‘Okay, there’s a human shield situation, and the terrorists weaponized civilians, so we can do nothing about it.'”
The War for Truth
Tal spoke of the price Israel pays in this war: “In the past two years, I’ve been to so many funerals. I’ve lost so many of my friends. My parents live in the city of Sderot. My father is an 84-year-old man that on October 7, had to run away from synagogue when they were shooting bullets all around him. We hate wars. But at this war, we have to win because this is a war between good and evil. This is a war against the forces of barbarism that if we will not demolish them, if we will not eliminate them, it will only expand.”
He continued: “The message that will be sent to the world is that you can kill, you can slaughter, you can rape, you can kidnap, and you’ll get away with that, and that will destabilize not just Israel, it will destabilize the world. Therefore, I think the world should understand and wake up to realize they should support Israel for their interests, not for ours.”
Mosab addressed why the world remains obsessed with Israel despite larger conflicts elsewhere: “If an alien would come from outer space and watch CNN or BBC, he would think that Israel is like this greatest empire conquering all the world, enslaving people, committing genocide, doing all these horrible things. Now we know that’s not the truth. Israel is this tiny land that throughout history, despite the fact this is tiny land, we were willing to make concessions and to give pieces of our land to the Arabs, hoping, fooling ourselve,s that that will bring us peace.”
He continued: “How many people died in wars in the past two years? How many people died in Congo? How many people died in Syria? How many millions of people were displaced? Nobody cares about that. They’re obsessed with Israel. They want, for thousands of years—not just the Muslims, even before that, the Romans and everybody before—they’ve tried to erase Israel from existence.”
Tal provided the theological explanation: “I believe humanity understands at the back of their mind that the Jewish people represent God in the world. And this is why they’re trying to erase us from existence, because they’re not just trying to erase us. They’re trying to erase God. Recognizing the right of the Jewish people for their homeland is basically recognizing that the Bible is true. And if the Bible is true, then God is real. And this is something that people are afraid to admit.”
A Father’s Choice
Near the end of the tour, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall, blessed Mosab. Through a translator, the Rabbi said: “We are a nation that had always people running after us and want to kill us, always many, many years. But we always pray for peace. Whoever wants to bless you, God will protect you and keep on the good work and make it loud and continue giving us the optimism to think, to see that there’s hope, that there’s more people doing what you’re doing.”
The Rabbi expressed concern about Mosab’s family situation. Mosab, who is 47 and unmarried, explained the cost of his stand: “My father was released recently from Israeli prison. He’s back home, supposedly. We’re not in touch. My father spent something like more than 25 years in Israeli prisons. It’s very dangerous. Even if I had the capacity to speak to him, I would endanger his life if the society knows that I’m in touch with them. When my father decided to disown me, I honored his decision. Two of my siblings wanted to stay in touch with me regardless, and I told them to honor my father’s decision because they would be in danger in their lives and my parents’ lives.”
When asked why he cannot contact his father, Mosab responded: “As of now, I don’t have any dialogue between me and my father or anyone in the ranks of my enemies. My father chose the ranks of the enemy that want me dead. He needs to realize this on his own once he’s able to surrender and put down his sword. His fight is not against the Jews. His fight is against the God of Israel. And this is why he cannot win.”
He continued: “My legitimate father, the heavyweight father, my source, gives me so much power that my father does not realize. He cannot even perceive. Not the Jews, not the Muslims, no one can understand this. And this power is not physical. It’s not mental. It’s not psychic. It’s beyond that. At this stage of this war, of this conflict, there is no room for a dialogue. I tried for about 15 years before we got to the point of October 7, and I tried hard. I tried to build bridges even though they wanted me dead.”
His final statement was powerful: “I don’t see a separation between the creator and me. I’m just a hollow bamboo, but I’m an extension of that source, of that power, and this body is just a projection that eventually is going to vanish, but the truth will remain.”
The Bedrock of Peace
At the tour’s conclusion, standing beneath the Temple Mount with its golden Dome of the Rock visible above, Mosab summarized what they had witnessed: “The evidence is overwhelming. Those who are in denial of the truth, who are basically focused on something that pleases the eye, which is the golden shiny dome, they are ignoring the truth beneath and below. It’s mindblowing. I’m very happy that I got the opportunity to explore this firsthand. This is the only way to actually experience truth—firsthand perception, direct observation, without relying on third sources.”
He concluded: “The world must understand that this city, the very identity of it, is a Jewish identity and all the attempts trying to erase the Jewish identity or to erase the Jewish nation from this region shall fail. The Jewish people are rooted and as old as the bedrock that we are standing above.”
Tal held up a coin he carries with him—a 2,000-year-old coin found inside the Temple Mount with ancient Hebrew letters saying “Holy Jerusalem” (Yerushalayim HaKedosha in Hebrew). It was stamped two years before the destruction of the Second Temple. “Holding this coin in my hands as a member of the Israeli Knesset, 2,000 years later again in the city of Jerusalem—that shows the truth for everyone. They’re saying we are illegal occupiers. No, it’s not. It’s the story of the Jewish people returning back after 2,000 years of exile to its ancestral homeland.”
The tour revealed what Islamic authorities have spent 1,400 years trying to conceal: Jerusalem belongs to the Jews. It always has. Three thousand years of archaeological evidence, buried beneath layers of Muslim construction and sealed behind tons of concrete, tells a story that no amount of propaganda can erase. The stones themselves cry out the truth.
