Co-founder of the Jewish Republican Alliance Mitch Silberman recently joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss his work with the group as well as the changes he’s seen among Jewish voters amid the terrorist group Hamas’ attack on Israel last year.
Silberman (pictured above), who grew up in Los Angeles, California, as a childhood actor on shows including Gunsmoke, FBI, The Mod Squad, and Bewitched, went to California State University, Northridge, where he eventually became an accountant before making a career change into wealth management.
As the owner of a wealth management company for 30 years, Silberman went on to start the Jewish Republican Alliance with his co-founder Bruce Karasik and his wife, Judy, seven and a half years ago.
Silberman likened himself to a “unicorn” during his interview with Leahy, noting how his identity as a Jewish Republican who was raised in California is not common.
“But we realized there’s more of us than you think. And what happened was we started talking about taking a stand for America and Israel,” Silberman said, noting how the first unofficial gathering of the Jewish Republican Alliance was with a small group of 18 individuals in California.
“We just got together with 18 people and we went around the room and had each person tell us how fun it was to be a Jewish Republican in California, and it was like being gay in Hollywood in the 50s, you know, you had to keep your mouth shut, don’t tell them who you really are…it’s very brutal. We’ve had some horrific things said to us when fellow Jews find out we’re Republicans,” Silberman added.
After the initial meeting, Silberman said the attendance at the following meetings continued to grow. Eventually, groups, including the Republican National Committee (RNC), reached out with interest in creating new chapters.
“The next thing you know, we have requests from all over the country to open up chapters. The RNC reached out to us. We have twice held the largest Jewish Republican event in American history. Once with 1200 people at a very large, prominent liberal temple in the San Fernando Valley and then we hosted Ben Shapiro with 1400 people. And so this has grown bigger than us – we’ve tapped into something,” Silberman said.
Silberman added that all individuals are welcome to join the alliance, saying, “We need to take a stand for America and Israel.”
“What I tell people when I’m on stage, I say, “if you love America and you love Israel, you’re in. This is your home. We don’t care if you’re Jewish, Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Atheist, Republican, Democrat, Independent.” We need to take a stand for America and Israel. We need to fight for the Judeo Christian values upon which our beloved country was founded,” Silberman added.
Commenting on the recent terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, Silberman said he thinks the political norm for Jewish voters, who statistically vote Democrat, is “changing,” as the attack “woke a lot of people up” in regards to seeing which political party has taken action and spoken up in support of Israel.
“What happened on October 7 woke a lot of people up. All of a sudden, the veneer has been removed, and they realized, ‘Oh my goodness, the Republicans, with all their faults, are highly pro-Israel, pro-Jewish.’…And so the October 7th attack in Israel has woken up a lot of Democrats saying, ‘Wait a minute. Why are so many on the Democratic side siding with the terrorists, siding with the murderers?’ And it’s kind of shaken people a little bit, sadly, in a good way,” Silberman said.
With current chapters in Nashville, New York, Conejo Valley, Dallas, Las Vegas, Newport Beach, Boca Raton, Santa Barbara, Westside Los Angeles, and San Fernando Valley, Silberman said the alliance has received interest from individuals “all over the country.”
“We have interest from all over the country, which is great because we’ve tapped into something. People are sick and tired of being sick and tired of watching our country being flushed down the toilet, and it’s time for action,” Silberman said. “The era of yelling at the TV set or throwing the newspaper down in frustration is over. What it boils down to is what are you going to do about it?”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Mitch Silberman” by Silberman Wealth Strategies, Inc.
