UN General Assembly
2016

That is a priority for me personally and for all Muslims. We utterly reject attacks on Muslim and Christian holy sites and any attempts to alter the historic Muslim, Christian and Arab identity of the Holy City. As the Custodian of Islamic Holy Sites in Jerusalem, I will continue my efforts to protect those places and stand up against all violations of their sanctity, including attempts to establish temporal and spatial divisions restricting free use of the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Haram Al-Sharif. Perhaps the central and most vital battleground for this defining war of our generation is the mind. The despicable, damaging ideology of hate, murder and self- destruction that is being spread in crash courses online and elsewhere must be confronted with a counter- narrative of hope, tolerance and peace. Together, in the General Assembly and in our regions, countries and communities across the world, we have the power to create that counter-narrative. Let us show that we also have the will to act.