By Catholics for Catholics
Podcaster Tucker Carlson recently brought to light an explicitly religious element that is possibly motivating pro-Israeli factions in the war on Iran, which some are already describing as a “world war” given reports of the Chinese and Russians allegedly helping Iranian forces to target their weapons against US forces.
In a recent episode, Tucker, who has received criticism from the president for his disagreement over the war but maintains “I’ll always love [Trump],” highlighted three indications that some Israelis have the ultimate aim of rebuilding the Temple of the Old Testament, known as the “Third Temple,” as part of their long-term war goals.
First, a 2018 video of current Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaking at an Israeli news conference at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem has now gone viral. In the clip, Hegseth tells the audience about his experience standing at the Western Wall, where “you can’t help but behold the miracle before you. And it got me thinking about another miracle that I hope all of you don’t see too far away.”
Hegseth continued: “Because 1917 was a miracle, 1948 was a miracle, 1967 was a miracle, 2017, the declaration of Jerusalem as the capital was a miracle, and there’s no reason why the miracle of the re-establishment of the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible.”
The existence of the physical temple is considered essential for Torah-observing Jews to be able to practice their faith fully. The temple was originally built by Solomon and then destroyed by the Babylonians. It was eventually rebuilt, and was the temple in which Jesus overturned the tables, but it was destroyed around 70 AD by the Roman empire.
Tucker next pointed out that in the mid-300s, the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate ordered that the temple be rebuilt, supervised by Alypius of Antioch. During the attempt to rebuild, the temple was destroyed in a shocking fashion. Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary of Julian and pagan historian, wrote about the failed project:
Julian “thought of rebuilding at an extravagant expense the proud Temple once at Jerusalem, which after many conflicts and much bloodshed, in the siege under Vespasian first, and then Titus, was with difficulty taken; and he committed the accomplishment of this task to Alypius of Antioch, who had before that been Lieutenant of Britain. Alypius therefore set himself vigorously to the work, and was seconded by the governor of the province; when fearful balls of fire, breaking out near the foundations, continued their attacks, till the workmen, after repeated scorchings, could approach no more; and thus, the fierce element obstinately repelling them, he gave over his attempt.”
Tucker Carlson calls out pastor Greg Locke for demanding that the US and Israel turn Gaza into a "parking lot" and blow the Dome of the Rock off the Temple Mount to build the Third Temple to "bring back Jesus."
— AF Post (@AFpost) March 6, 2026
The Church Fathers hold that the Third Temple will never be rebuilt,… pic.twitter.com/1IaMzuS25s
“By the way,” Tucker added, “just a few months later, Julian, Emperor Julian the Apostate, was killed. You know what he was killed doing? Invading Iran.”
Interestingly, just a couple of days after Tucker published this episode, Shawn Ryan aired an interview with the respected Catholic exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger who also commented on the supposed third temple. Fr. Ripperger said, “According to the fathers of the Church, at least the ones that I’ve read, they said the temple will never be rebuilt.” He referenced Julian the Apostate’s failed attempt to rebuild and explained that “Christ actually put an end to the Jewish sacrifice on purpose because the Jewish sacrifice in the Old Testament was a leadup or a prefigurement of Christ.”
There have been no attempts to rebuild the temple since then, but in the late 600s, the Umayyad Caliphate built the Dome of the Rock on the site, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque was constructed adjacent. These structures still stand today.
The second indication of a desire to rebuild the temple that Tucker highlighted was a video of an IDF soldier who recorded himself talking to the camera as he examined the patches of his military uniform. In the video, dated to early 2024, the soldier says,
“They call this operation the Swords of Iron. But what are we really fighting for? We’re fighting for the right of the Jewish people to exist, be Jewish, practice their religion, and be free. And one day our true leader will come and we will be united as a whole Jewish nation so we can rebuild the Beit Hamikdash [the Temple].”
The final piece of evidence cited by Tucker was an additional video clip of Israeli rabbi Yosef Mizrachi telling a congregation that he would be in favor of a false flag attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to rebuild the temple. He said,
“We don’t know, maybe one of the missiles will hit the mosque and clear the place for the Third Beit Hamidash. That could also be a miracle. If it was up to me, the last time when they shot hundreds of missiles, I would pretend that one missile came from Iran and shoot it down. You know, then all the Arabs will go against Iran. It will be the end of the problems. You make them fight with each other, this bunch of lunatics. Never too late. You deal with a bunch of cowards.”
As of Monday, March 9, there have been at least seven US servicemembers killed, and reports are now converging on a consensus that the United States was responsible for hitting a girls’ school in Iran resulting in the deaths of somewhere between 165-180 people, many of them students. The school was housed within an IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard) compound. US government officials maintain that it was more than likely a rogue Iranian missile that hit the complex.
Additional reports suggest that US military bases across the Middle East have been decimated by Iranian retaliatory attacks, leaving our allies and trade partners irate.
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