Ben Shapiro explains why he has not made ‘aliyah’

At the sold-out International Conservative Conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night, The Daily Wire’s editor emeritus Ben Shapiro explained why he has not moved to Israel.

After being asked the question by journalist Amit Segal, Shapiro told the more than 2,500 attendees that living in the United States is a “point of morality” for him.

“Because the fundamental principles [of the United States] are good, eternally good, and worth upholding, and my fight to do that as Jew is deeply important not just to people who are not Jewish but particularly to Jews,” he said. “So, in other words, my Jewish mission does not conflict with my presence in the United States or my citizenship in the United States or my loyalty to the United States.”

When Segal pushed Shapiro, asking if all Jews should live in the State of Israel, the American Jewish conservative political commentator and columnist said he believed that he is doing good in the United States with his large audience.

“Jews should live where they can be a light to the nations, and for me, as a person with millions and millions of followers in the United States promoting what I think are values that are eternally good, living in the United States is a point of morality for me.”

The event was co-hosted by the U.S.-based Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Tel Aviv International Salon, Shibolet Press and Sella Meir Publishing.

Besides Shapiro, who was the headliner, speakers included Knesset member Amir Ohana; former Ambassador to Germany Rick Grenell; former Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer; former U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Jon Rakolta; former Acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker; chairman of CPAC Matt Schlapp; Mercedes Schlapp, senior fellow at the CPAC Foundation and former senior adviser to President Donald Trump; CPAC vice president Dan Schnieder; CEO of Sella Meir Publishing Rotem Sella; and Amiad Cohen, CEO of the Tikvah Fund.