Israeli celebs urge fans to get out and vote

Israeli celebrities, generally concerned with pitching products and gaining Instagram followers, have rallied round a campaign to raise voter turnout in these unprecedented do-over elections.

Most of them did not endorse a specific party, but urged their fans and followers to get out and vote.

Gal Gadot led the way, posting on her Instagram account the words, “Get out and vote” in Hebrew dozens of times in white letters on a black background on Monday. The Wonder Woman star generally posts in English to her 30 million-plus followers, so this was a sign of her continued engagement with Israel. She added the Hebrew words, “So simple and so important. No matter who you choose to vote for. Choose to choose. This is our greatest responsibility as citizens. Let’s increase the voting percentage once and for all. Because this is the land of us all,” alongside the image.

The closest parallel Israel has to a “Rock the Vote” campaign like the one fronted by celebrities in the US is the Vote 70 movement, an initiative on social media to get out the vote above the 70% threshold, which has been endorsed by dozens of companies, particularly ones that appeal to young people, who traditionally have low voter turnout numbers. These businesses will give anyone who uploads a photo of themselves voting a discount so that they only have to pay 70% of their bill at these establishments on voting day.

One celebrity who publicly supported this campaign on his Instagram account was Fauda star and singer Tsahi Halevi. Halevi doesn’t need to prove his left-of-center credentials to anyone, since he announced this year that he and Israeli Arab television personality Lucy Aharish married several years ago. He wrote a few lines exhorting his followers to show up to vote, saying, “We’ll meet at the ballot box.” He also posed with a child in another post, saying voting was an obligation to make the world better for children.

Aharish posted her own get out the vote message.

Other celebs who used their social media platforms to get out the vote included models Galit Guman, actress Noa Tishby, model Bar Refaeli (who added a vote message to her Instagram story), actress Orna Banai (who posted an anti-corruption message), actress Maya Dagan and model Chelli Goldenberg (who posted a photo of a lone shark surrounded by a huge school of fish next words of criticism of the prime minister on her Instagram account).

Eyal Kitzis, the host of the popular political satire program, Eretz Nehederet (Wonderful Country), took the get-out-the-vote campaign a step further on the program’s Instagram account. He urged fans to vote, take selfies and tag them with Eretz Nehederet and said they would be included on the show’s Instagram feed. But he didn’t stop there. He also said that if they knew someone who wasn’t voting, they should photograph them, tag them and, “We’ll take care of them,” but didn’t specify how.

The Shadow, a rapper known for his right-wing leanings, released a new song a few days ago that criticizes politicians on every side of the spectrum, including the prime minister.

Curiously, Rotem Sela, Israel’s most popular pitchwoman and one of the hosts of Ninja Israel, had not addressed the election as of Tuesday morning, even though in March, she famously sparred with the prime minister. She criticized the Nation-State law he proposed and which was passed, and drew criticism from Netanyahu himself. Gadot stepped in to defend her at the time. Sela’s two most recent Instagram posts featured her taking a pole dancing class as a promotional stunt for the clothing brand, Castro.

Some of the promotions got downright silly. The Jerusalem Post’s Gil Hoffman reported on Twitter that Tel Aviv mayor, Ron Huldai, who had promised 10 shekel beers to anyone who proved that they had voted, was prevented from carrying out this plan by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. Apparently it was Shas leader Arye Deri who petitioned to have this offer struck down. Apparently, Huldai didn’t know that in the US, bars are closed on election day so that politicians can’t bribe people with free drinks.

Even Durex, the condom company, got into the act, with an ad that said, “If you can do it twice a night, you can do it twice a year,” referring to the second round of elections. In the April election, their get out the vote message was a little more explicit.

While the media frenzy will focus Tuesday evening on who wins the election, it seems that some celebrities will claim victory if it turns out their followers voted in large numbers.