Elections 2009 / Parties enlist celebrities for star-studded election campaign

On Saturday night, Tzipi Livni attended a parlor meeting in Tel Aviv's Florentin neighborhood. She was accompanied, among others, by singer Orna Datz, and together the two women tried to convince an audience of some 200 undecided voters to vote for Kadima. It has been rare during this election campaign to see artists willing to leave their homes in support of any candidate or party. As the end of Israel's election campaign draws near, however, more and more performing artists and intellectuals have abandoned their impassiveness and announced their political choices. On Sunday, the parties' spokespeople released the names of those celebrities who consented to having their support for a specific party publicized:

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Kadima: In addition to Datz, celebrities who have expressed their support for Livni include Dana International, singer / actress Gali Atari, singer Ivri Lider and reality star Rodrigo Gonzales.

Labor: Many artists have recently gathered around Defense Minister Ehud Barak, perhaps due to the opinion polls, which have predicted dismal results for his party. One Labor supporter is actor Alon Abutbul, who even added Barak to his list of friends on the Facebook social network site. Comic actor Shabi Zraya has also expressed his support for Labor, calling himself an "Ophir Pines-Paz man." Authors Eli Amir, Haim Gouri and Yoram Kaniuk are Laborites, too. "Labor's platform is the most balanced of all the parties," Amir said Sunday, explaining his choice. Also on this list are children's author Devorah Omer, actor Gavri Banai and storyteller Yossi Alfi.

Likud: The party's spokesman offered a relatively modest list compared to that of Labor: French-Jewish singer Enrico Masias, producer Nancy Brandes, singer Moti Giladi, rapper Subliminal and singer Boaz Sharabi.

Meretz: This party is prouder than ever of its impressive list of supporters, which includes authors Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, singer Yardena Arazi, celebrity hairdresser Miki Buganim, filmmaker Gal Uchovsky, actress Gila Almagor, actress Shirley Glick, author Yehudit Hendel, artist and sculptor Igael Tumarkin and musician Sharon Kantor.

Shas: A party spokesman told Haaretz yesterday that a long list of artists supports the party, but only one of them, comedian Yaakov Cohen, recently publicly announced his support for Shas. Singer Yehuda Sado can be added to this list -- even though he has not declared his allegiance to Shas, he often meets with the party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef.

Hadash: This party prides itself with a list of some 250 Arab artists, who have signed a declaration of support for Hadash. They include Mira Awad, who was recently chosen to represent Israel at the Eurovision song contest, alongside Ahinoam Nini. Another singer, Amal Morcos, as well as actor Mohammed Bakri and his son Salah, can be added to the list.

The other Arab parties did not busy themselves looking for famous people to support them, but even so, Ra'am-Ta'al is openly supported by Bnei Sakhnin soccer player Abbas Suan, who even helped the party campaign.

The green parties have also sought the support of celebrities, and Meimad/Green Movement boasts the support of actor Avri Gilad and singers Ehud Banai and Koby Oz. The Green Party reports at least two big-name supporters: actress Chani Nachmias and singer Avi Bitter.

Yuval Azoulay, Yoav Stern, Mazal Mualem, Ofri Ilani, Yair Ettinger and Zafrir Rinat contributed to this article.