President Donald Trump had once said that the bond between Israel and the United States is one not just of friendship but true conservative philosophy rooted in the historical texts of the Bible. Building upon that sentiment, the standard-bearer of the Conservative movement in America arrived in Israel for a new initiative, one they hope to repeat annually. 

Just a short walk from the white sand beaches of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and several thousand miles from the District he is seeking to represent, Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance spoke to an excited crowd.

Ever heard of @CPAC Israel? You have now…
🇺🇸🇮🇱 https://t.co/x7wE02gwfm

— Daniel Cohen (@DanielCohenTV) July 22, 2022

“If you listen to the fake news media, what they tell you is that Israel is all kinds of terrible things ... it’s disgusting,” he said in his speech. “God bless you for caring enough about this civilization to protect it.”

Vance was just a bonus for the VIP guests at the Israeli edition of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the most prominent political gathering of the American right-wing world.

A surprise guest at the CPAC Israel/@TLVIntls event: JD Vance. He’s impressed by Israel’s high birthrate. pic.twitter.com/GjpEWTw7nq

— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) July 20, 2022

The first ever CPAC to be held in Israel is part of a broader effort by CPAC’s administration to strengthen bridges between right-wing movements worldwide. In the United States, CPAC conventions are usually a massive multi-day affair with breakout sessions, panels, and appearances from almost all of the GOP’s prominent figures. The Tel Aviv event, sponsored by three Israeli organizations, was a single night built around a keynote address by the Jewish-conservative idol Ben Shapiro. This was Shapiro’s first ever public speech in Israel.

One of the Israeli organizers, the Tel Aviv International Salon, had defined the entire event solely as a Shapiro appearance, despite all the “CPAC Israel” graphics on the stage.

The program’s intellectual goals faced some struggles. The main issue is that, despite the memorable comments of America's 45th President, the Israeli Right and that of the U.S. are at their core, different ideological movements developed by separate historical and political markers. The event's purpose was to connect some of those differences and persuade Israeli conservatives to move toward American-style free market economics while pushing the American right toward a more aggressively Israeli version of nationalism.

It was such an honor to hold ⁦@CPAC⁩ Israel! Next year in Jerusalem! pic.twitter.com/AZUT46NyYT

— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) July 20, 2022

As the speeches went on, the crowd grew impatient waiting for Shapiro. When one speaker was being announced — retired Israeli basketball player Omri Casspi told a friend, “Better be Ben, bro,”

Shapiro’s speech centered on a dual set of questions that served as a thesis statement for the entire night’s purpose: “What Israel can learn from America, and what America can learn from Israel.”

Reform Judaism does not see Jewish identity as important says @benshapiro at the @CPAC Israel event in Tel Aviv, and adds, Israel shouldn’t invest diplomatically in the Union of Reform Judaism in the United States. https://t.co/gGGaPtk2qu

— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) July 21, 2022

In his narrative, Israel had yet to fully embrace American-style free-market economics, calling the Israeli economic system a “kind of a dumpster fire” held back by high taxes and strong unions. His assessment can be no closer to the truth as Israel, once a Socialist nation, is transitioning, albeit two decades in the making into one of a Capitalist mentality with Socialist overtones. Undoing the bloated bureaucracy without disturbing the status-quo of things like the exceptional healthcare system and social welfare programs has proven a greater task than imagined.

Israeli conservatives are YUGE! @CPAC Israel pic.twitter.com/QGfW3IgF4N

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) July 20, 2022

Americans, for their part, needed to learn from Israel’s nationalist soul.  “America has one major thing to learn from Israel: that a nation-state must have, at its heart, a nation,” he argued. “What that means is that America has to learn from Israel the necessity of common history, common culture, and common destiny.”