The Herut Center, which organized the event, promotes conservative ideas in Israeli public discourse.
By David Isaac, JNS
Two giants of political conservatism, Douglas Murray and Ben Shapiro, starred at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center on Tuesday night before a sold-out crowd of more than 3,000 in what might best be described as a mutual admiration society, with the crowd applauding its pro-Israel champions as they in turn voiced esteem for Israelis’ grit and fighting spirit.
“Thank you on behalf of Western civilization for fighting the fight the rest of the West should be fighting,” Shapiro told the audience at the “Freedom of Zion” conference.
He asked those with loved ones who had served in the Israel Defense Forces in the past year to stand up. Nearly all did. “That’s unique. It’s something that doesn’t exist in the West anymore,” Shapiro said, describing it as a “civic militarism” once common in Western societies.
“There are people here … who … put their bodies on the line defending civilization. I am merely a writer,” said Murray. “If I give you any encouragement, you should know that the encouragement you give me is 1,000-fold.”
Early reports pointed to an enormously successful event. The Jerusalem Post on Monday said that Shapiro-Murray was the hottest ticket in town, with fans “scrambling for scalped seats,” likening it to a Taylor Swift concert.
“Trying one more time. Looking for one ticket to the Ben Shapiro/Douglas Murray event in Jerusalem Tuesday evening. Willing to pay well over face value. Please DM [direct message] me,” posted a member of Secret Jerusalem, an online community of Jerusalemites.
Several Knesset members also attended the event, including Amichai Chikli, Amihai Eliyahu, Dan Illouz, Ohad Tal, Ariel Kellner and Simcha Rothman.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro speaks at the Freedom of Zion Conference at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Nov. 19, 2024. Photo by Yaakov Nachumi/Herut Center.
Murray and Shapiro are renowned in conservative circles. Shapiro, an American Jew, is host of a daily political podcast, and founder of media company The Daily Wire. He frequently speaks on college campuses and is the author of numerous books, including, “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans” and “The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great.”
Murray, who is from the United Kingdom, first came to prominence with his 2017 book, “The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam,” in which he warned that Europe could not survive mass Muslim migration and its loss of faith in its “beliefs, traditions, and legitimacy.”
An outspoken defender of Israel prior to the Hamas invasion, Murray ramped up his efforts in columns and TV appearances in its wake.
While pro-Israel conservatives may have difficulty picking favorites between the two, it was clear from the audience reaction that Murray was the star of the evening, due perhaps to the fact that he is not Jewish and rushed to Gaza’s front lines at the outset of the war.
“For Israelis in general, you’ve become a symbol over the last year,” said Maj. (res.) Doron Spielman, the IDF’s English-language spokesman, during a one-on-one dialogue with Murray at the conference.
Spielman noted that when he and Murray had entered the Gaza Strip a few weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, soldiers on break skipped the few hours’ sleep provided to them to stand in line to meet the journalist. “They just wanted to get a hug from you and a picture with you to send to their family,” said Spielman.
“At what point did you decide to stand in the line of fire for the State of Israel and the Jewish people?” he asked.
Murray attributed it to both intellectual and emotional reasons, suggesting a good deal of it was due to his upbringing and the values he was taught, such as distinguishing between right and wrong, admiring courage and not viewing victimhood as a virtue, an idea he said was today infecting most of the West.
Murray also said he felt it was wildly unjust how Israel is treated abroad, particularly since the Hamas invasion, which cast into sharp relief how the Jewish nation is “the only nation in the world which, when it gets attacked, then gets attacked again.”
His connection to Israel has “become personal,” he confessed. “When I read about something terrible happening here, it affects me personally, as if it’s family.”
Murray stressed that Israel must maintain its strength, noting that history shows that the most dangerous time for Jews is when they are “prominent and weak.”
He dismissed as impossible the idea that Jews could avoid prominence, keep their heads down and not stand out.
There’s only “one option,” for Israel, that is to be “prominent and strong,” he said, to a rousing cheer from the audience.
Conservative commentator Douglas Murray at the Freedom of Zion Conference at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Nov. 19. 2024. Photo by Yaakov Nachumi/Herut Center.
Significant time was given over for audience questions. A line quickly formed along the entire length of the hall.
Asked about the American Jewish vote, a majority of which still went to Democrats, a questioner wondered what could be done to break Jews of their left-wing leanings.
Murray expressed optimism, saying that a shift away from the Democrats was already taking place. He noted that while living in Israel for most of the last year, he had had a chance to meet Diaspora Jewish delegations. T
hey would say to him, particularly American Jews, that while they lent support to the MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, “no one’s been there for me.”
“I started to realize the only thing I could say was, ‘Well, welcome,’ by which I meant, ‘Welcome to the real world.’ It was always going to be like that. This was never going to be reciprocated,” he said.
Responding to a question about the existential threat posed to Israel by Iran, Murray suggested the goal should be regime change.
History books will show that two journeys in the 20th century should never have been allowed to continue, he said. The first is the train from Zurich that started Vladimir Lenin’s journey back to Russia.
The second is the plane that carried the first leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, back to Tehran.
“My hope is that whatever the Israeli military and political leadership can do, the endgame should be that the virus that has ruined Iran … is gone,” Murray said.
Murray was presented with a Freedom of Zion Award at the event.
“We want you to know that we understand that you are fighting our war and that this is just a small token to remind you that we know that you are part of our battle,” said Spielman.
Amiad Cohen, founder and CEO of the Herut Center for Israeli Liberty, the organizer of the event, presented the award to Murray. “There’s no word in English that I found in the dictionary for ‘hakarat haTov,’ [‘acknowledging the good’] we’re in real debt for your support as a nation,” he said.
The Herut Center, which promotes conservative ideas in Israeli public discourse, seeks to craft a conservative agenda for Israeli public affairs and introduce Israelis to the intellectual underpinnings of conservative thought, translating into Hebrew the books of famous conservative thinkers.
Hebrew versions of Murray’s and Shapiro’s books were available at the conference. Cohen said that Murray and Shapiro were a natural fit for the Herut Center.
“The two are both strong conservatives who believe in peace through strength and total victory in the war. And it’s obvious that these two supporters of Israel should be recognized,” he told JNS.
“The war is not only a war for Israel, but it’s the war for the West, for the moral argument for the West,” he added, describing the Hamas attack as a litmus test separating those standing with Israel and “the right side of history” from those on the side of Hamas and “evil.”
Murray and Shapiro are the “right people at the right time” to bring this message before the Israeli people, Cohen said. “That’s why I invited them. It’s totally part of the conservative movement worldwide, and Israel definitely, after the Trump victory.”
In a 20-minute speech to the conference, Shapiro stressed the point that Israel’s fight is a fight for the West, depicting the Jewish state as a last bastion of values that were the foundation for Western success.
Israel’s economic and military success and its high birth rate are a result of traditional Western values, which makes Israel’s success so vital for Western civilization’s continued success, he said. “You are an outpost of Western civilization,” he said.
“This is the tip of the spear in a civilizational battle. It’s why everyone cares so much and it’s why you don’t have a choice as to whether to succeed. You have a duty to succeed … Because as you go, Western civilization goes,” he added.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro speaks at the Freedom of Zion Conference at the Binyanei Ha’Uma in Jerusalem, Nov. 19, 2024. Photo by Yaakov Nachumi/Herut Center.
Shapiro spoke of an Israeli soldier he had recently met. Ari, 22, was badly wounded in Gaza, losing two limbs. Wheelchair-bound, Ari had thanked Shapiro for his efforts on behalf of Israel and then astonished him by asking, “I just have a quick question. I want to know what more can I do.”
“That’s an ethos that needs to be carried forward, not just on behalf of Israel, not just on behalf of Jews who live abroad, like me, but on behalf of Americans, on behalf of the West,” said Shapiro.
Shapiro lavished praise on Israel for the way it fought back after the tragedy of Oct. 7, noting that “a country that seemed to be fraying at every corner proved more durable and stronger than the social fabric of pretty much any other nation on the planet.”
He also offered constructive criticism, calling on Israel to free itself of unnecessary bureaucracy, calling it a relic of the country’s socialist past, to pave the way toward greater economic and military strength.
He called for all Israelis to take an equal share in military service, a reference to the hot-button issue in Israel of haredi, or ultra-Orthodox Jews refusing to serve.
Speaking of Israel’s efforts to convince the world of the rightness of its cause, Shapiro said these efforts have failed because Israel’s enemies hate it precisely for its success and for being in the right.
“The world of moral persuasion is not where Israel is going to guarantee its future. The world of independence and strength is where Israel always has and always will guarantee its future,” he said.
At the conference, awards were also handed out to soldiers fresh from the front. Shortly before coming to the stage, Murray met two of them.
“You are the tip of the spear for the entire free world,” he told the reservists, who had only hours before been fighting in Lebanon.