Applause repeatedly interrupted the speech of the conservative Jewish thinker Ben Shapiro during the conservative CPAC conference, which took place last week in Tel Aviv.
The thousands present at Hangar 11 loved every punch line the witty publicist sang.
Shapiro spoke from their throats.
He described the successes of our tiny country, its abundant natural growth and the danger posed to the world and Israel by the ideologies of the extreme left.
It was impossible not to sympathize, for example, with the sentence "Israel must always be connected to its Jewish roots. Indeed, God kept his promise. Israel is a miracle."
Although Shapiro was good enough to give a speech, and then to be interviewed by News 12, he unwittingly offered a trap to his Israeli fans.
Shapiro combined his own support for the Republican Party with US support for Israel.
"71% of Republicans have a positive opinion of Israel, compared to 44% of Democrats and independents who lean toward Democrats. Most Democrats under the age of 30 have an unfavorable view of Israel," he said.
"This is the same group that tends to believe that America is exceptional only in its evil, and this group is rapidly gaining ground in the United States."
Shapiro warns not only of his political philosophies, but also of Jews who, like him, do not advocate observing mitzvot according to the Halacha.
In response to one of journalist Amit Segal's questions, he said that "the unfortunate reality in the US is that Reform Judaism does not see the preservation of Jewish identity as a movement.
If your Judaism is same-sex marriage, transgenderism and abortion, and they come before the preservation of Israel's security for you, then I have serious questions about your Judaism.
If you ask me who is more likely to support the State of Israel... the polls show that the Jews are the most atheistic group in the US."
In other words, Shapiro left his Israeli listeners with the message that they have nothing to look for in the Democrats and/or the non-Orthodox Jews.
The subtext was that only the Republicans support Israel, and among the Jews, only the observant are in our favor - everything else is a lost cause.
The description of these things, with all due respect to the well-known commentator, is first of all factually incorrect.
There are many progressive democratic politicians who are staunch supporters of Israel.
For example, Hakim Jeffries, the head of the black lobby in the House of Representatives who is expected to replace Nancy Pelosi as the leader of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, is a supporter of Israel.
His colleague from New York, Congressman Richie Torres, an openly gay man, is a fan of the State of Israel.
So is Shontel Brown, a black politician from Michigan, and many more.
As for the Jews, there are non-Orthodox who have Israel at the forefront of their minds, and it is too short to name them.
There are Orthodox who are very active for Israel, but in the Democratic Party and not the Republican Party, and there are also those who don't really care about us.
In this, the black-and-white picture drawn by Shapiro is simply wrong.
But worse than that, the offer to the Israelis to "coddle" in the bosom of the Republicans and Orthodox Judaism is also dangerous.
Shapiro predicts a sweeping Republican victory in the upcoming American elections.
Maybe that will be the case and maybe not.
In the US, the Democratic Party currently rules, and there is every reason to think that it will continue to come to power in the next hundred years.
Anyone who has taken the first step on the bridge between Washington and Jerusalem knows that maintaining bipartisan support is essential to Israel's future.
That is, even if Shapiro's description were true, Israel simply cannot rely solely on the Republicans.
If you do, she puts herself at risk.
Therefore, those who really care about Israel cannot escape to the Republican comfort zone, but must fight for continued support for the Democratic Party, as is already happening - and even successfully.
As an American citizen, of course Shapiro has the right to his opinions.
However, his fans here must remember that in this context, he and they are not on the same page.
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