Humor in the Burst Tel Aviv Bubble

By Renee Ghert-Zand November 21, 2012

It is clear from social media posts from friends and relatives in Israel over the past week, that many are using humor as a way of dealing with the very serious missile attacks from Gaza and strikes against Hamas by the IDF.

Tel Aviv is the best inspiration for comedic material right now. The Bubble (as Tel Aviv is known), targeted by rockets for the first time since the 1991 Gulf War, has been burst. Last Thursday, “Fajr-5” checked in to Tel Aviv on Facebook on the “Postim m’zuyafim” (Fake Posts) Facebook page. The first comment on that was from “Iron Dome,” who wrote, “How is it that I didn’t see you?”

On November 18, a funny phony Israeli radio broadcast titled, “Galgalatz in solidarity with the residents of the South,” skewered the self-absorbed Tel Aviv mentality. The announcer kept mispronouncing the names of cities and towns in the southern part of the country, even reading “Ashdod” as “EshDavid.” True, he was probably reading from an un-vocalized text, but still…

And it is no surprise that we already have a “Sh*t Tel Avivians Say When a Siren Sounds” video. Watch as these Tel Aviv hipsters try to sexily pick one another up in the stairwell as they listen for the “boom,” ignore a siren by either going back to bed or doing their makeup, boast about reading news about the war only from liberal sources, and most importantly — refuse to give up a parking space no matter what.

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