StandWithUs Rebukes Michael Che Over Israel Election Joke on SNL

StandWithUs criticized comedian Michael Che on Sunday over a Saturday Night Live joke that associated Israel’s election with genocide. In a video statement, the organization challenged his portrayal of the vote and pointed to participation by Israelis from different religious communities. The organization said Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze and other Israelis had voted in the previous week’s election. It described turnout as the highest since 1999 and said Arab parties had received a record number of votes. Those were the organization’s claims in its response, which presented electoral participation as the context missing from Che’s joke. The video reproduced Che’s remark about Israeli voters choosing between the political right, the left and genocide. StandWithUs accused him of repeating a false allegation rather than recognizing participation in Israel’s democratic process. “Che is on the wrong side,” the organization said. Its criticism addressed the comedian’s treatment of the election and his use of the genocide accusation. StandWithUs’s official Facebook profile lists May 21, 2001, as its founding date and identifies the organization with Los Angeles. It describes its mission as fighting antisemitism and supporting Israel.