My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel

by Ari Shavit

Does he read the papers? Does he follow politics? Does he have an ideology? I ask him. “Sure,” he answers. He supports the Left, always has. For a while, he even went to peace demonstrations. But today he believes that the party-now scene is more relevant than the Peace Now movement. “Allenby 58 is where it’s at, where politics is really happening,” he says. “In the past, Tel Aviv clubs celebrated machismo and senior officers and military heroes. But now no one cares about that hierarchy. If the commander of an elite commando unit comes in—fine, but who the fuck cares who he is. The heroes here are singers and actors and people who make other people feel good. And this is what the next Israeli century and the next global millennium is going to be about. Not that I will be mayor and Shirazi will be my lieutenant, not that it’s all going to be one big love parade. But fun will take center stage. It will happen. It’s already happening. The young don’t read the papers anymore, but they dance like crazy. They will not go down to the desert, or build kibbutzim, or be army heroes, but they will wildly pursue pleasure and fun.