🕌 I WALKED FREELY IN ISRAEL. THEN I ENTERED AL-AQSA.
The irony still makes my blood boil.
In December, I traveled through Israel openly as a Muslim.
I walked freely through Jerusalem. I entered synagogues. I visited churches. I stood at the Western Wall. I spoke openly about being Muslim and about my support for Israel.
Nobody stopped me because I was Muslim. Nobody demanded that I hide my faith. Nobody treated my religion as a threat.
Then I went to Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, whose Islamic holy sites are administered by the Jordanian-controlled Waqf.
I was wearing a small hostage pin in solidarity with innocent people kidnapped by Hamas.
And suddenly, I was the problem.
I was confronted. I was removed. I was briefly detained and questioned. My U.S. passport was taken from me.
Think about the hypocrisy.
I could walk freely through the Jewish state as a Muslim. I could visit Jewish and Christian holy places without being told what I was allowed to believe.
But at one of Islam's holiest sites, under the religious administration of the Jordanian Waqf, showing compassion for Jewish hostages became a problem.
What exactly was my crime?
Refusing to believe that being Muslim requires silence when Jews are kidnapped?
Refusing to surrender my conscience to extremists who think they have the authority to decide what a Muslim is allowed to believe?
No imam, cleric, religious authority, government or extremist gets to dictate the boundaries of my conscience.
My Islam does not require hatred of Jews.
My Muslim identity does not require hatred of Israel.
And my compassion does not stop when the victim is Jewish.
That hostage pin represented something very simple:
Human beings were kidnapped. They deserved to come home.
If that message is considered offensive at one of the holiest places in Islam, then we Muslims need to ask ourselves some very uncomfortable questions.
I walked out of Al-Aqsa angry, disappointed, but even more determined.
You can take my passport.
You can question me.
You can remove me from a holy site.
But you will NOT dictate my conscience.
I stand against antisemitism.
I stand against Islamist extremism.
I stand with the Jewish people.
And I will never apologize for believing Muslims and Jews can stand together.
Not even at Al-Aqsa. Especially at Al-Aqsa.
