The Political Motivations to Deny the Bible’s Historical Accuracy | Real Talk

in the U.S it is easy to see the dangers of teaching revisionist history as it turns out this is not limited to America on a recent trip to Israel I was shocked to learn that many institutions are teaching that King David the biblical king of Israel is a made-up myth this motivated me to meet with Zev Ornstein a director at city of David in Jerusalem where people could see proof of much of what we read in the Bible Zeb and I discussed the incentive behind the tremendous efforts to revise history foreign thank you so much for coming all the way from Israel to talk to me today I actually met you a few months ago when I was traveling in Israel and something really interesting happened to me I went with my family we were visiting in Tel Aviv and we were hanging out with one of my family members who is incredibly academic he has a bunch of degrees and happens to be an educator and she said to me you know Marissa King David never existed and I looked at her and said what are you talking about tomorrow morning I have a trip scheduled with the family to visit the city of David and so I bumped into you over there one of the directors and my first question to you was that is King David a myth or did King David actually exist the amazing thing is prior to 1993 if song would have said I'm going to visit the city of David there was a whole group of Scholars known as The Copenhagen school and I would say city of David you mean King David from the Bible so of course obviously well you know they would say historically speaking there was no such person now you may be a person of Faith you may believe that the Bible is the literal word of God and that's great but the Bible is not a history book they would say it's not a scientific text you can't prove anything just because it says so in the Bible prove to us they would say not using the Bible that there was a king David three thousand years ago and you know what prior to 1993 you couldn't do it until an excavation in Israel's North in a place called Tel Dan a large Stone inscription is discovered and this inscription dates to about 150 years after King David would have lived but you can see right over here 150 years after King David would have lived attributed to a man named King Hazel of a ram a Rama's modern day Syria and this King Hazel is also mentioned in the Bible in the second book of kings and this King Hazel was in a good mood how do we know the inscription tells us that he had just won a major military victory over who over a king from the House of David now if there's a house of David what does that mean the David exists there's a David right that if there's a house of David that means that there was a king David right and so today everyone knows that of course there's a David right now I have a story similar to yours where before covid a couple of years ago I was guiding a group of academics in the city of David I said to this group of academics I said you know what's interesting 30 years ago what was the debate surrounding David whether he existed or not exactly whether he existed or not today what are we debating how large his kingdom was every day that passes we are unearthing Antiquities in the city of David and throughout the country that are showing not simply as a matter of Faith but as a matter of fact that Jerusalem's biblical Heritage is true you could see it you could touch it you could walk on it that as more and more time passes there are fewer and fewer questions about the authenticity of the biblical account of what happened in Jerusalem going back 3000 years and certainly uh much more closer and closer throughout the biblical period I want to get into a discussion as to first of all who is denying the existence of of King David and by that the Bible and also why and what's the motivation but just before we get into this just so nobody who was viewing this has any doubt that King David actually existed is there anything else that we need to know that you guys have proof that this is not just a Biblical narrative but actually his there is additional historical proof that he actually lived well the amazing thing about the excavations taking place in the city of David is we are uncovering literally on a daily basis we are finding seals with the names of figures that appear in the Bible we are finding ancient inscriptions that are affirming events that are recounted in the Bible and so you can go back 2500 years 2700 years maybe three thousand years and say okay here's what the archeology this science is showing here's what it says in the Bible and we are seeing more and more examples where it matches now it's not my job to prove the Bible if someone believes in the Bible great and if they don't it's not my job to convince them well here's the archeology and therefore you should believe but what is amazing is that as archaeologists are digging I just recently in an excavation in the city of David a different excavation than the one we were just talking about they uncovered a seal going back about 2600 years the name on this deal is Nathan melek servant to the King right now Nathan my legs are over to the king okay it's a strange name to find on a seal it turns out this Nathan Malik appears in Second Kings 23 11. now the archaeologists who dig in these excavations they come from Tel Aviv University other places generally not what you'd call religious people and they're very careful they don't want to say well this is matches up with what the Bible says they want to be very cautious and they found this deal and just last week two weeks ago I was having a conversation with this archaeologist and he had this deal and he was showing it to someone and I said I said well is this the same person that's mentioned in the Bible and he basically said he says you know what I can't tell you 100 but it is almost certainly so meaning for him he could say 99.9 right but here it is and the amazing thing is is that archaeologists are not religious which is great because if you have religious people digging be like oh you're biased and and whatever but when you have people who they would consider themselves not religious maybe secular or whatever they'd call themselves and they're the ones unearthing these Treasures and saying wait a second it matches up with the biblical account that's powerful now you say well why would people deny that right why is that threatening to people but sadly you have today among other places at the United Nations you have a body called UNESCO the United Nations educational scientific and cultural organization now sounds like a very important body they have a very important mandate which is to preserve the cultural heritage of humanity that sounds really important now Jerusalem probably more so than any other place in the planet has a lot of that a lot of Heritage that's important to a lot of people that needs to be preserved cherished protected so you would think that UNESCO would love what we're doing in the city of David except uh they don't so in 2016 they passed a resolution saying that Jerusalem is in fact significant just not to Jews and not to Christians that places like the Temple Mount and the Western Wall are significant only to one group not the Mormons either right it's to Islam now I'm not here to minimize the connection that Muslims feel to Jerusalem but you're going to say that that Jews and Christians don't have a connection to the Temple mount to the Western Wall really the site where the two temples stood how can you say that Jews and Christians don't have a connection to this place and when they go on to condemn the archaeological excavations taking place in Jerusalem of course the largest being the city of David what does that mean condemn do they not want you guys to excavate 100 there was a phrase that I love the truth is not insecure right and so if they believe that they know the truth about who lived there and what happened there and all this historical evidence wouldn't they want to encourage you guys digging and and and showing essentially whatever happened there you would think that but that's not the case and I'm going to show you something in a moment that highlights how much has changed uh in recent times so they they have this resolution condemn the archeology condemn the excavations can deny the Heritage that Jews and Christians share to Jerusalem I know what grounds are they asking you not to excavate well the United Nations sadly is not the Arbiter of morality or Truth uh and the way it works in the United Nations is when people vote on resolutions like this they're not voting based on what's historically accurate or true they're voting on what serves their country's interests and in fact uh in 2016 Mexico's ambassador to UNESCO he reaches out to his uh foreign office in advance of this upcoming vote and he says well here's this vote coming up on Jerusalem what are my instructions how am I supposed to vote now Mexico is a very Christian it's a Catholic country and they say to him to his surprise we're going to support this resolution denying Jerusalem's biblical Heritage and so he says well what do you mean I don't understand how can we support a resolution that denies our own Heritage not because it's denying Israel's Heritage of the Jewish people's Heritage this is our heritage a Christian country what do you mean we're going to support this resolution and they said that we're going to support the resolution he says but it's not true but we're going to support the resolution the vote came he did not follow the orders that he was given and you know what he was doing the next day looking for a job wow and all the other ambassadors they see that and they're like you know what we like being ambassadors we like getting a nice apartment in New York City and having a driver and all the perks of being an ambassador We're not gonna lose our position over standing up for the truth right and so you have these resolutions the reason that they're pushing so hard against the excavation and the support of you know the Bible and the existence of King David and all the evidence is the reason because it doesn't fit a certain current political narrative that they they want to push it's not just political but it's also a spiritual narrative that if the story that you're telling is that Jews and by extension Christians have no Heritage in Jerusalem that were foreigners were colonizers were occupiers we were never here then you'll hate a place like the city of David right because there is no place on the planet that shows more clearly Bible is real that it's real that you can see it you could touch it right here it is we've been here for thousands of years you could like that or you could not like it it's what you can call An Inconvenient Truth right right and certainly if you want to say that uh from first a spiritual perspective from an Islamic perspective if you want to say well wait a second you know Islam is the dominant religion and and Jews were never here it's only Islam right well then you're not going to like what we're finding in the city of David which is a lot of uh affirmation of the true of the Jewish connection to Jerusalem going back thousands of years politically speaking uh the city of David like the Western Wall like the Temple Mount like the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Mount of Olives In The Garden of Gethsemane is located in what much of the world refers to as East Jerusalem now what much the world says about East Jerusalem is well that should be Palestine uh Jews were never there they're occupying it right Israel's occupying it right what's the problem when you find in the city of David every single day Antiquities fancy word for old stuff showing that we've actually been there for thousands of years that Jerusalem's biblical Heritage is in fact true well then you have to say well wait a second well then maybe they're not occupiers maybe they're not colonizers maybe they're not foreigners maybe they actually do have Heritage in this place that does not fit the script right now if you go back to 1930 you have a body in 1930 called the Supreme Muslim Council now you see here in 1930 the Supreme Muslim Council puts out in English a brief Guide to the Al Haram al-sharif referring to the Temple Mount now this is in English because in 1930 the British are in the country right what does the Supreme Muslim Council want the British Personnel to know about the Temple mount in 1930. well you can see here it says its identity with the sight of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute this too is the spot according to Universal belief on which quote David built an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings they're quoting from the Bible so 1930 the Supreme Muslim Council says there was a David there was a Solomon there was a temple Beyond dispute Universal belief they quote the Bible now a lot of times gone by since 1930 so we have a more up-to-date version of this booklet Al-Aqsa mosque clarifications for misconceptions but what are the misconceptions maybe you read the earlier version and you might actually believe that Jews and by extension Christians have Heritage in Jerusalem so they're going to clarify that very quickly see all we have over here the Dome of the Rock and not the holy of holies the al-barak wall and not the Wailing Wall the Al-Aqsa mosque and not the temple what was less than a century ago Beyond dispute Universal belief erasing history that's right it brings me back to that moment where we connected and I asked you how is it that in Tel Aviv an hour and a half away from the excavations of city of David where there was proof that there was a Jewish homeland in the area way before 1948. how is it that the academics are teaching otherwise and you look back at me and he said isn't that what you guys is happening to you in your country in the United States where history is being erased and therefore replaced and at the core of all of it is the big government and the Academia working together to essentially create a new narrative in order to basically feed people a new ideology that is you know pretty much made up right that's right and so what is the work that you guys are doing to educate I guess the world about you know the city and what kind of obstacles are you all facing well the first challenge is that up until 150 years ago when people thought where is the original biblical city of Jerusalem the city synonymous with people like King David King Solomon prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah everyone was looking for Jerusalem in the wrong place that if you would ask most people well where is biblical Jerusalem or close your eyes and when you see biblical Jerusalem what is it that you see the Wailing Wall right the wall they'll say maybe the Stations of the Cross the church of Holy Sepulcher and the amazing thing is when people say that that's what they think of when they think of biblical Jerusalem none of those places are in the Bible right at least not in the original Hebrew Bible the Western Wall The Wailing Wall is a thousand years after David right people think the old city of Jerusalem is biblical Jerusalem until 1867 1867 Queen Victoria of England wants to discover the Treasures of the Bible like the Ark of the Covenant right so here you can see over here when people think of Jerusalem and all the places that make Jerusalem Jerusalem for billions of people we have over here the Temple Mount this is the biblical Mount Moriah today you have the Islamic shrines on top of it you have the Western Wall right over here so this was all built this area was built many years after this of David was was built so that well you have the Western Wall the Temple mount that we have today goes back about 2 000 years ago to the time of Herod to the time of Jesus that's the time period that we're talking about King David is a thousand years before that now the walls that surround the old city today right they are ottoman walls they go back 500 years now if you're talking about the United States of America 500 years is a long time ago Jerusalem which is 4 000 years old we don't get overly excited by 500 year old anything right now 1867 Queen Victoria of England once discover the Treasures of the Bible like the Ark of the Covenant she sends a man by the name of Captain Charles Warren to the Holy Land to find those Treasures he comes to Jerusalem he comes to the temple amount right this is where he wants to search for the Treasures of the Bible except 1867 the Ottomans the Muslims are here and they say Charles we're sure you're our great guy but you're not going to dig up the Temple Mount today due to religious sensitivities political sensitivities there's been no archaeological excavations on the Temple Mount so Charles Warren says if I can't excavate on the Temple Mount I'll excavate near it he comes down the slopes of the Temple Mount of Mount Moriah walks through the Kidron Valley over here he ends up making a discovery which will lead him to come up with a theory which is that the original biblical city of Jerusalem the city of David the place where Jerusalem began it's not located inside the walls of old city but located it was like a blessing in disguise that you would have thought that maybe God guided him in that way in Jerusalem that happens a lot right so he comes up with his theory and when he announces his theory to the world everyone says you're crazy why because if you say that today this 11 acre Ridge this is the city of David today the place where Jerusalem began Temple Mount right to the north here's the Western wall here's a city of David here's what it looks like 100 years ago there's nothing there right and it's only over the last century plus of archaeological excavations that have taken place on this Ridge here in the city of David that today everyone knows that Charles Warren was in fact correct that the original biblical city of Jerusalem the city of David which today is one of the most archaeologically excavated sites in the world everyone knows today that it's actually outside the walls of Old City we lost Jerusalem so one of the first obstacles is people need to understand the old city of Jerusalem is Uptown Jerusalem it's old but it's not the oldest part of Jerusalem the place where the kings of the Bible ruled in the prophets of the Bible preached was not the old city but the city of David I mean it's really right around the corner I remember walking from there before we go into talking about the significance of the excavations in the city can you just explain to me briefly the difference between where we go to the Wailing Wall and why we go there and where we go to see the city of David and and just what is the significance of both because there's quite a lot of significance in the Wailing Wall I don't want to under uh estimate that portion so the Wailing Wall is uh one of the retaining walls of the Temple mount that goes back to the time of Herod again around the time of Jesus right 2 000 years ago and it is essentially the snapshot that we have of the destruction of Jerusalem 2000 years ago of what's left and it's become a pilgrimage site for people to go and pray it's called The Wailing Wall because it's a place where people go to mourn the destruction of Jerusalem it's essentially very similar to Yad vashem in Israel which is the Holocaust Memorial which essentially The Wailing Wall is commemorating the destruction from 2000 years ago Yad vashem is commemorating the destruction of Jewish life in Europe from 70 years ago but it's a very similar theme destruction mourning commemoration the city of David is not that the city of David one is far older than the Wailing Wall I mean you're talking about its origin some 2000 years before the Wailing Wall David is a thousand years before the Wailing Wall but the city of David was life in Jerusalem it was during the time of the Bible again where the kings of the Bible are ruling from where the prophets of the Bible are preaching from anything that's happening in Jerusalem in the Bible is largely happening in either the city of David or the Temple Mount and therefore when you want to connect to Jerusalem and it's her biblical Heritage that's the city of David I mean when you think of the people like King David King Solomon King Hezekiah prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah they're walking through the streets of the city of David when Nehemiah rebuilds the walls around Jerusalem which we found in the city of David those same walls he was building those walls around the city of David you see that when you're in the place where the Bible happened the words of the Bible come to life and it's not just stories you could actually see it yeah I mean you can touch it right you could touch it you you find these these Antiquities that are being on Earth that are showing they were real people who March through the pages of the Bible real events just as they were described in the Bible and again for some people that's a spiritual thing for other people it's a historical thing but what I think many people don't realize is that the values that this country the United States of America the values that this country is built upon the judeo-christian Heritage where does that come from yeah comes from Jerusalem I mean so many of the laws that America has put into uh into effect come from Deuteronomy that's right right the founding fathers when they were creating this great nation they were inspired by Jerusalem and therefore the city of David is not just a Jewish heritage site it's not just an Israeli heritage site but in many ways it's an American heritage site and that's why the last uh Administration they actually recognize we have this at the entrance to the city of David this this plaque which acknowledges the significance to the United States of America that the city of David plays as a heritage site for America because of the values the Heritage that America is built upon right has its roots in the city of David and what we're trying to do in these excavations is to protect and to preserve and make accessible to people of all faiths and backgrounds this Heritage which has shaped the world not for Millions but for billions of people and that relevance of those values in that Heritage is not less today than it was two and three thousand years ago in fact it's probably never been more relevant when we look at some of the challenges that are going on in the United States of America also in Israel it's a guidepost for how we can navigate some of those challenges well the evidence is so important right because being able to actually physically show our children and people around the world that there's actual evidence that they can touch they can see they can interact with I mean truth is on our side as I said but you know we're we're working against uh an environment that is doing everything they can to deny the existence of the Bible because you know they they don't want religion they want government to take over the religion a few years ago you had an incredible Discovery you found a road uh can we talk a little bit about this special Road and why it's significant uh I I think what's very cool about this road is that you know it's very very possible or maybe have been proven that Jesus has actually walked on this road uh so tell me a little bit about that one so 2004 at the southern end of the city of David there's a road and over here beneath the road there was a sewage pipe and in 2004 the sewage pipe explodes and now you have a big mess so Jerusalem is not just another municipality the city of David Is Not Just Another Part of Jerusalem and here when a sewage pipe bursts you don't only sit in construction Crews you also send in archaeologists and so the archaeologists they're supervising they begin to hear scraping and scratching the bulldozers are doing their thing they clear everyone out and it turns out in repairing the sewage pipe they inadvertently discover these ancient stone steps 2 000 years old and the archaeologists say there's only one other set of steps that look just like these in Jerusalem these are the Southern steps the steps that would have gone up to the temple 2 000 years ago and the archaeologists say well okay we know what these steps are now but what are the steps down here they realized they'd found the steps leading down to the ancient pool of Salam now the pool of Salam has deep significant in the Christian scriptures the Bible tells us that three times a year all of Israel has to go in pilgrimage up to the temple on the Temple Mount now before you can go up to the temple what do you have to do you have to wash cleanse bathe purify yourself the pool of silam the southern end of the city of David is a size of two Olympic-sized swimming pools why so big the historian Josephus said that 2 000 years ago you would have had nearly three million people incredible right not like ten thousand not fifty thousand three million people going on pilgrimage from the pool all the way up to the temple on the Temple Mount so now the question that the archaeologist had was okay we know where the pool of Siloam is at the southern end of the city of David we know where the temple stood on the Temple mount a half mile north of there how did all those millions of pilgrims get from the pool all the way up to the Temple Mount so they widen the excavation and what do they find they find what today is known as the pilgrimage Road this is the road our ancestors yours and mine Jews and Christians alike 2 000 years ago this is the road that they walked upon when they went on pilgrimage up from the pool all the way up to the temple now keep in mind two thousand years ago it's under the sky today it's underground you have a neighborhood above but two thousand years ago it's under the sky and as you go up you see alongside the road shops and stalls that you're going up to the temple maybe you need something for the temple offering you have all the shops and you also have this the only one of its kind found so far in Jerusalem it's found along the pilgrimage Road this is the ancient place where you would have had your Prager U videos right this is the ancient soapbox if you had a message two thousand years ago you're gonna get up on the podium it's the public forum yes the Hyde Park Speakers Corner yeah and you're going to preach and you'll say a spiritual message an ethical message of political message an educational message this is where you're going to do it and if you're interesting people will stop and listen and if not someone else will get up and give it a go but this was the Town Square this was the Beating Heart of Jerusalem I call it the biblical Super Highway anywhere you wanted to go 2000 years ago in Jerusalem this Road's taking you there now the road itself is about five times wider than what you see here right now archaeologists are doing a north-south connection between the pool all the way up to the footsteps of the Western Wall and once we finish that there'll be an East-West expansion but this is literally going to allow people to walk in the footsteps of the Bible see it with their own eyes touch it with their own hands walk with her own feet on the very same road where their ancestors walked thousands of years ago so I was never that much into archeology I've become more interested in it now because when you know that people are denying history we got to show proof right what kind of obstacles are you guys facing I mean I I've been reading about the fact that they're not letting you guys dig and and excavate more and why is that again and who is stopping you actually right now from digging is it a financial issue or is it a political issue are you able to dig further under these towns and possibly find more of these incredible pieces of History so one of the biggest challenges when it comes to the city of David is if you think of Gettysburg today how many people live on the Gettysburg Battlefield nobody right why would you have someone living on one of the most significant Heritage sites in America yeah the city of David today is a modern neighborhood it's a mixed Jewish Arab neighborhood right and it's sitting atop one of the most significant Heritage sites on the planet not just for millions of people but for billions of people now if this was the United States what would you do eminent domain so here's some money everyone moving out nobody wants to move out of Jerusalem it's not that nobody wants to move out we obviously understand why people whether you're Jewish Christian Muslim why if you were living in the city of David you wouldn't want to live anywhere else ever it's it's biblical Jerusalem at the same time there's political sensitivities and religious sensitivities and cultural sensitivities so there's no eminent domain in Jerusalem so one of the big challenges is how do on the one hand respect the modern the people who live in the neighborhood today in this the modern day city of David whereas at the same time uncover the Heritage that has so much significance not to Millions but to billions of people around the world and the answers with great sensitivity uh the city of David's only 11 acres I mean you have places in Texas driveways that are bigger than 11 acres but we've only excavated a third of the site so far because of those sensitivities and so everything has to be done slowly carefully it has to be done right right and better to do it right and in the right way and it takes a little bit longer right than to to rush through it and have all the complications that would go along with that so there are political sensitivities that you always have to keep in mind but thankfully all the excavations that take place in the city of David are with the Israel Antiquities Authority the body that oversees for the state of Israel all the archaeological excavations carried out with the archaeologists from all the leading academic institutions so this is not a you know in the middle of the night digging this is as legitimate as you're going to get but of course one of the challenges always is archeology is expensive right uh and so to excavate something like the pilgrimage Road you're talking about with all the engineering hundreds of millions of dollars right uh and so thankfully you know the state of Israel partners with some of the work and there are lots of people around the world who see the importance of uncovering this Heritage and they're also our partners in in these excavations but it's it's certainly important to also understand that whether it's the Palestinian leadership the European Union leadership the United Nations leadership they don't like these excavations they would love it if these excavations literally uh were just Buried buried under now people could disagree when it comes to politics and policy but what should not be up for debate is the heritage of Jerusalem the biblical Heritage of Jerusalem which is the city of David which there is probably no place on the planet where you can more clearly link a people with a place going back thousands of years than the Jewish people to Jerusalem that's a fact you could like it you cannot like it I think it was the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who said that you're entitled to your own opinions but not to your own facts and that's the problem when it comes to what's happening in Jerusalem what's happening in the city of David is that you have people in the Palestinian leadership European Union leadership United Nations leadership that actually believe no uh were actually entitled to our own facts and if we pass enough resolutions and make enough speeches and have enough uh European Union ngos writing these reports saying these things that people will believe it and use the academics that's right history and basically prop obligate the idea that Israel became a Jewish Homeland only in 1948 and not you know thousands and thousands of years before now here's something we're talking about the pilgrimage Road I want to show you something that it's it's for jerus by Jerusalem standards is relatively modern right this is only 2 000 years old right this is what's known as a silver half shekel coin now two thousand years ago the Bible tells us that there was something known as the temple tax once a year you had to bring whether you were rich or poor the same amount which was a silver half shekel coin so you can take a look at this it's 2 000 years old that's actual real silver found along the pilgrimage Road someone was on their way up to the temple carrying the temple tax they had a hole in their pocket a flat tax a flat task exactly right Rich poor they all pay the same everyone had an equal everybody had a stake in them in Jerusalem right now in ancient Hebrew script that's on that coin it has the words holy Jerusalem in Hebrew two thousand years this is proof right this is called proof called an affirmation we have been here right this is not because I believe it or you believe it or because I'm religious it's not simply a matter of Faith but a matter of fact it's real you're holding something literally out of the pages of the Bible it looks so similar to the current day shekel too what else do you have show me more simple things there's a coin that 2 000 years ago the Romans are destroying Jerusalem the year 70 they'll destroy Jerusalem and in the Years leading up to the destruction there's a period known as the great Revolt the great Jewish Revolt for Freedom against the Roman occupation of Jerusalem now this coin it's it's a bit of a mystery why are they minting these coins because everyone knew at that time Jerusalem was going to be destroyed so this is not currency this is just a coin this is statement the people who minted these coins they knew Jerusalem was going to be destroyed that coin that you're holding represented a hope a wish a dream and a prayer that one day their descendants would return to Jerusalem as Sovereign now it took a little bit longer than they thought it would but two thousand years later here we are and there is still a Jerusalem capital of the Jewish state of Israel opened to people of all faiths and backgrounds that hope that wish that dream in that prayer was answered so what what script is this what languages that is ancient Hebrew script right that is what Hebrew used to look like it was an ideological statement saying we're going back to Our Roots it echoed throughout the generations if you think of the call that the Jewish people have had for Millennia next year in Jerusalem Even in our darkest moments we never stop saying that yeah and today there is a Jerusalem an open free accessible Jerusalem to people of all faiths and backgrounds and here's something else amazing when you think of some of the great wonders of the world you go see the pyramid to say wow look at the Grandeur of the Pharaohs you go to the Coliseum look at the might of the great Roman Empire but then you say where are the Pharaohs today where is the Great Roman Empire today and the answer is the same museums history books with some monuments left behind you come to the city of David the place where Jerusalem began you walk in a few years time along the pilgrimage Road it's real you could see it you could touch it and we're bringing it back to life for the benefit of not just the Jewish people not just Israel but for billions of people around the world who weather out of a spirituality out of Faith out of a connection to history or culture or just wanting to connect to something that's bigger than ourselves that's what Jerusalem is that's what the city of David is and that's also why there's a fight over it because the truth is and you know this from your work anything that's really important there's a fight over it and if no one's fighting you it means it's not that important once this excavation of the pilgrimage road is complete you're going to have millions and millions of people every year who are going to literally walk in the footsteps of the Bible and then they'll be able to say whether it's to the United Nations or to Palestinian leadership or others you're lying yeah right that there is a truth right the Jewish people have been in Jerusalem for thousands of years and by extension so of Christians Jerusalem's biblical Heritage is true it's real you can see it you could touch it you could walk on it and that's what's happening in the city of David as we speak and that's exciting a lot of people scaring a lot of others but the best days are yet to come I think what's so inspiring about this particular coin is the message that it sends that we really do need to preserve history and we need to write you know we need to write our Diaries and we need to commemorate important ideas because somebody is going to come after us and going to try to erase it and if we don't Safeguard these pieces of evidence then we're going to give another group of people the opportunity to just lie and tell a new narrative and and essentially control people's minds that's right and we're seeing that and it's these little gifts that we're finding that are reminding us how important it is that we have the courage and also the foresight that these folks had to know that one day even if it's thousands and thousands of years later somebody's going to need to find this coin to know that the fight and the and the work that needs to go into preserving history is worth it that's right right it is a fight in the sense that you have one side that is actively denying that Heritage the heritage that Israel is built upon that the United States of America is built upon and if we just assume well everyone knows that there was a king David everyone knows that you know Jerusalem has its Heritage going back thousands of years you can't take anything for granted you can't take the truth for granted the truth needs us to protect it that's right and so one of the beautiful things that that's happening in the city of David is it's unearthing that that those affirmations that I wish everybody could go and see I don't know sadly not everyone can get on a plane and fly to Israel what what else do you have you have one more box here tell me about that one so this was a bit of a message of hope that in the year 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem they are so proud of their victory over Jerusalem that they meant a coin this is more proof that Jerusalem exists they had to ruin it obviously it existed I mean so the Romans you could see here is the Roman Emperor for spasian and on the coin it says Judea capta right Judea has been captured the reason why Jews are called Jews Jews come from Judea the capital of Judea was Jerusalem on the coin you have a Roman Legionnaire towering above a Jewish woman on her knees crying this is the most widely minted Victory coin the Romans ever minted if one goes to Rome you have the Arch of Titus Titus would go on to become emperor of Rome but before his emperor of Rome he's the commander of the 10th Roman legion which destroys Jerusalem on the arch of the temple Treasures being led out of Jerusalem and into Rome now in 1958 10 years after Israel's re-establishment Israel meant its first national Medallion but there's something strange about this if you look closely you'll see here they've recreated the Roman Victory coin which is strange why would you rement a symbol of Shame for your people but when you turn it over you see the answer because now it says Israel liberata right and the woman holding a baby right woman's house Standing Tall holding a baby in her arms the Roman soldier is gone and a man is beside her working the land making the Desert Bloom that was Israel's response to Rome two thousand years in the making and again it took we're back right it took a long time right two thousand years is a long time to wait but some things right right and Jerusalem I believe is one of those things I think our shared Heritage that comes from Jerusalem that has shaped both of our great Nations is something worth fighting for uh and certainly there's a fight today yeah uh and the only question is you know do we want to stand up for what we believe in do we want to make sure that this Heritage is preserved and protected uh and shared with the Next Generation so that they too will be able to have a heritage that's worth passing on to the Future yeah I feel so much the same way about America right it's it's so exhausting and in my position to keep fighting and feel like you know the Academia is against us and the culture is against us and Council cultures against us and you know people will write all these articles about you know Dennis Prager or any of us uh that are trying to preserve American history and you know you look at these things and you say wow if King David's descendants fought then certainly America is worth fighting for too and how important it is that we preserve America's history because you know that's what the other side wants to do they want to overwhelm us we just need to keep at it that's right chin up you know two thousand years ago you have to put a wager down who has a brighter future Rome or Jerusalem right everyone would have taken Rome right yeah unless you believed in the Bible and you you walked with God and then you knew and even then if you look at the various Empires that have come through Jerusalem right whether it's the Babylonians or the Persians or the Greeks or the Romans at their Peak they were the biggest deal and it just didn't seem like like small little Jerusalem small little Israel small little David against Goliath and stand a chance right but here we are we're standing for something important whether it's here in the United States in Jerusalem the Heritage the values they're worth fighting for yeah and what's interesting is in this particular excavation that we're talking about along the pilgrimage Road where those coins are being found we also find something else that is found throughout the excavation and if you take a look over here take a look at this you can see here what is that just like that Ash that is Ash that dates back in this time capsule in this layer to 2 000 years ago that is ash from the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. there it is I mean it's in that layer in that time capsule from the same fires that destroyed Jerusalem 2000 years ago and you're holding it in your hand and we're going to share it with millions and millions of people well thanks for bringing all this stuff this is so cool it's like my dirty jobs right Show and Tell doesn't just have to be in kindergarten yeah no I love it I love that it's like real and it's uh and it's proof and I get to interact with it so thanks hopefully those values in that Heritage for those who still want to connect to it it will be a source of strength and blessing to overcome these challenging and dark times and ultimately will be a source of light for us and uh for our children incredible well I am so inspired thank you Zev um you know I really needed this so thanks for this conversation and I hope all of you who are listening are inspired and uh go visit go visit the city of David if you can thanks again thank you