Navigate to News section

Sarah Silverman Weighs in on Israeli Election

Comedian tweets message urging Israelis to vote for leftist Meretz party

by
Stephanie Butnick
March 11, 2015
Sarah Silverman on February 28, 2015 in New York City. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Comedy Central)
Sarah Silverman on February 28, 2015 in New York City. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Comedy Central)

Sarah Silverman is known for lending her comedic voice to political causes. Back in 2008, she urged young Jews to go down to Florida and convince their grandparents to vote for Obama, a trek she called “The Great Schlep.” In 2012, she was back with “Let My People Vote,” a video targeting voter fraud laws. She also infamously offered to perform a sexual act on Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson if he pulled his $100 million 2012 donation to Mitt Romney and gave it to Obama instead.

She’s also no stranger to Israeli politics. Her sister, Rabbi Susan Silverman, a prominent member of the organization Women of the Wall, which seeks equal prayer rights at the Western Wall. When Silverman and her daughter Hallel Abramowitz were detained at the Wall in February 2013, Sarah tweeted a characteristically brash message in support: “SO proud of my amazing sister @rabbisusan & niece @purplelettuce95 for their ballsout civil disobedience. Ur the tits! #womenofthewall

Now, Silverman has used her substantial Twitter voice—she has 6.12 million followers—to rally support of the leftist Meretz party in advance of this month’s Knesset elections. She tweeted this message early this morning: ISRAEL! If you are a Meretz supporter you NEED to VOTE MARCH 17. Every vote counts. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain”

JTA notes that Susan Silverman is reportedly 20th on the Meretz party’s candidate list, though it’s unlikely she’d actually get a Knesset seat.

The responses to Silverman’s message range from followers noting the irony of telling Jews not to complain, Israeli followers commenting on how much they like when American Jews tell them who to vote for, and the expected distaste about Silverman tweeting about Israel.

We’ll see if Silverman’s latest social media showing can garner the same virality as her pro-Obama videos.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.