By Philip Weiss

May 17, 2019 "Information Clearing House" -  There’s been a lot of focus on US Ambassador David Friedman saying at a ceremony in Jerusalem Tuesday that Israel “is on the side of God,” as the New York Times reported.

The religious character of Friedman’s remarks went well beyond that statement. Friedman likened the US-Israel relationship to the “altar” of the original Jewish temple in Jerusalem and called the embassy a “shrine” that people pray to and thank God for. The US and Israel need to get even closer in the coming months, Friedman said, and move toward even greater “holiness.”

Friedman spoke at an event on May 14, marking the first anniversary of the opening of the US embassy in the city, the day in 2018 that saw the killing of more than 60 Palestinian protesters in Gaza.

Here are religious excerpts of Friedman’s speech.

I think we’ve done something that has not been done in some time, we have created a new shrine in the ancient city of Jerusalem and we’re extremely proud of it. [Applause]… What I get perhaps the greatest satisfaction from… [are] the tourists who come to visit the embassy… I kid you not, people got on their knees and they prayed to god that they had seen this day, that this day had arose…  They took pictures, there were people in tears, there were people were in deep moments of prayer. The reactions frankly were stunning and moving, and I can’t get enough of that.

When people say the embassy move was “just symbolic,” Friedman disagrees.

That just cannot be further from the truth. The move of the embassy was a validation by the strongest nation in the world, not just strong militarily, strong economically, but strong morally, strong ethically, with a bedrock of Judeo-Christian  values that govern every citizen’s attachment to this country. That country recognized the unbreakable, historical truthful connection between the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem. That is not symbolic. That is the farthest thing from symbolic.

Friedman then hinted that the U.S. would go further and recognize Israeli sovereignty in portions of the West Bank.

Now is that enough? Should we be resting on our laurels?… I think the answer is No. With this administration of Mike Pence, and Mike Pompeo and John Bolton and Jared Kusher, Jason [Greenblatt] and me… Some say our most important ally in the region, I would take out the word region. To bring new and bold ideas of cooperation to just make this relationship stronger and stronger and stronger.

Here is the Godly Israel reference.

Is Israel getting stronger? Look, Israel is growing stronger for two reasons. Number one, the objective metric by which Israeli measures itself, the most important one, is how strong is its relationship with the United States and on how many levels. And that keeps growing and growing and getting stronger and stronger and stronger.

And the second is, Israel has one secret weapon that not a lot of countries have. Israel is on the side of God, and we don’t underestimate that.

On the theme of moving forward, Friedman cited the Jewish festival of Passover and the song “Dayenu,” meaning Enough, about “all the incremental steps that God has done for the Jewish people.” Friedman listed all the things that Donald Trump has done for Israel, among them recognizing the Golan as sovereign territory, tearing up the Iran deal, moving the embassy, personally praying at the Western Wall– any of these steps would have been enough, he said. But: