In describing American support for Israel during his AIPAC address Sunday morning, President Obama virtually exhausted the synonyms for “strong” in the English language—using “unbreakable,” “ironclad,” “steadfast,” “unshakeable,” and “unwavering” in the course of his speech.

But the scene last night at the AIPAC banquet was worth more than a thousand words, and a better indication than mere rhetoric. More than two-thirds of both the House and Senate attended (including the Majority and Minority leaders of both branches, and the Speaker of the House), along with Israeli and foreign dignitaries and conference attendees that included 1500 student body presidents—more than 10,000 people in all, in a dinner hall whose length could have accommodated the Washington Monument.

Benjamin Netanyahu ended the evening with a paean to “real democracy” (not just elections, but freedom of speech, rule of law, and rights for women, gays, and minorities) as the solution to the problems of the Middle East. He got sustained applause for his statement that “Israel is not what’s wrong about the Middle East; Israel is what’s right” about it. As John notes, he responded to the hecklers’ interruptions by wondering how such protests would be handled in Gaza.

Netanyahu concluded by quoting, in both English and the original Hebrew, the phrase from Leviticus 25:10 that appears on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia (and in Liberty Bell Park in Jerusalem): “Proclaim liberty throughout the land (ukratem dror baarets).” It was a reminder, in the country of the “almost chosen people” (in Lincoln’s remarkable phrase), that the United States and Israel represent the true alliance of hope and change in the world.