American conservative pundit Ben Shapiro has been selected to light a torch at Israel’s upcoming Independence Day ceremony.

This year’s ceremony theme is “Bridges of Hope,” coming a year after a somber observance that featured only survivors and first responders from Hamas’ October 7 massacre. The event scheduled for April 30th will include 36 torch-lighters in total, with Shapiro being chosen following recommendations from a public advisory committee.

“Ben Shapiro is one of Israel’s greatest supporters in the world,” Transportation Minister Regev announced on Monday. “Throughout his media career – and especially since the start of the war – he has demonstrated unwavering support for Israel, its right to self-defense, and the justice of its cause.”

As host of The Ben Shapiro Show and founder of The Daily Wire, Shapiro has built a substantial following across social media platforms with over 20 million followers. He has consistently defended Israel’s defensive war in Gaza and has participated in fundraisers for Oct. 7 victims. Shapiro was warmly received during his first speech in Israel in 2022, when he warned against importing “woke culture” to a packed crowd in Tel Aviv.

Though Shapiro has cultivated a following in Israel, his invitation to the ceremony has drawn protests from those troubled by his opposition to abortion rights and his history of contentious comments about LGBTQ+ individuals.

“You can’t whitewash misogyny and LGBTQ hatred just because the person who expressed it supports Israel. This choice erases us, and it shames the ceremony, the country, and the values around which we are all supposed to unite,” Israeli LGBTQ advocacy organization Aguda wrote on X.

The Israel Women’s Network similarly condemned Shapiro’s appointment, stating, “Ben Shapiro, the man who claims that women who have abortions are ‘baby killers,’ should not be lighting a torch on Independence Day. It’s not an honor, it’s an insult to women in Israel.”

The ceremony will mark the beginning of Israel’s 77th Independence Day celebrations, commemorating the signing of the state’s Declaration of Independence in 1948. Among those joining Shapiro are former hostage Emily Damari, who was released in January after fifteen months of Hamas captivity, and Deni Avdija, whose NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers has made him a source of national pride.

Other torch-bearers include military officers, a 90-year-old woman who knits clothing for soldiers, relatives of soldiers killed in Gaza, and Rachel Edri, who became known for surviving the October 7 attack after offering cookies to her Hamas captors.1