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JEWISII
NEWS
The Zionist Dream
Meets Elton John
LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
T
he first day of the latest
round of Arab-Israeli
peace talks would ordi-
narily be the top story, fol-
lowed by at least a half-dozen
others in the first 30 minutes,
on Israel Army Radio's top-rat-
ed morning news show.
But not on June 16. That was
the day "Morning Review" de-
voted its entire opening half-
hour to one story alone — Elton
John.
In case you did not hear, this
is what happened: Elton John
flies into Israel, is kept waiting
at Ben-Gurion Airport, gets
mobbed by photographers at the
hotel, cancels his Tel Aviv con-
cert in disgust, flies home to Lon-
don, reconsiders, flies back to Tel
Aviv and gives the concert a day
late.
It was a minor international
story. But in Israel, it arguably
got more attention in a single
day, both from the media and
from people just talking among
themselves, than any event
since the deportation of the 400
Hamas activists six months ago.
The story was all over pages
one, two and three of the news-
papers — big headlines and pho-
tos of Elton John hopping over
sofas in the Tel Aviv Hilton lob-
by as his bodyguard tried to
clear a path through the pho-
tographers.
Yediot Aharonot, Israel's
largest daily paper, devoted its
lead editorial ("Elton John — In-
sulted and Insulting") to the af-
fair. The hourly radio news gave
updates all day long on the sta-
tus of the negotiations to bring
him back.
At the official level, Elton
John's departure was taken as
a diplomatic fiasco. By fax and
phone, the singer was implored
to return. Health Minister Haim
Ramon asked him to come back
in the name of the fight against
AIDS, Mr. John's pet cause.
Transportation Minister Yis-
rael Kessar promised to have
John and his entourage rushed
through passport control and
customs. (A helicopter was pro-
vided to take John straight from
the airport to the concert site.)
England's Ambassador to Israel,
Andrew Burns, was enlisted to
try to change the rock star's
mind. Israel's highest police, cus-
toms and transportation officials
discussed how to ease the entry
of VIPs at Ben-Gurion so the
country would not have to en-
dure such an embarrassment
again.
At the popular level, howev-
er, the feeling was that the prob-
lem lay not with Israel's
passport procedures, or with its
overzealous photographers - but
with Mr. John himself. He had
affronted Israel's national pride.
Radio and TV satirists came up
with songs ridiculing his bisex-
uality, his faint-heartedness, his
hair transplant, his weird glass-
es and clothes, his airy, aloof at-
titude.
"We're a warm country; we're
a warm people, let him go, who
needs him?" said a radio call-in
show host. "He's a lily-asked fag,
what a spoiled brat," said a so-
cial worker. "That little guy's got
the whole country on a string,"
said a nurse. "The British are
anti-Semites," commented a
candy store owner.
Even the president of Israel,
Ezer Weizmann, got into the act,
giving it to Elton John in real
Elton John was the
biggest news story
in Israel since the
expulsion last
December of 400
Hamas activists.
crowd-pleasing, salt-of-the- earth
Israeli fashion. Asked about the
controversy on a tour of the
Galilee, where a little commu-
nity choir performed in his hon-
or, President Weizmann said:
"Who needs Elton John? Listen
to the choirs and gingers we
have here. At least they sing
songs with meaning, not non-
sense...We can replace Elton
John, but we can't replace the
Israeli people."
There seemed to be some dis-
sonance here. On the one hand,
the country went absolutely ga-
ga over the angry exit of some-
body who, is, after all, a
46-year-old retread rock star.
"Is he coming back; is he not
coming back is he coming back
is he not coming back?" went one
of the impromptu songs.
On the other hand, to hear
the average Israeli tell it, who
cared whether Elton John came
or went? He doesn't like us?
Well, we don't like him.
Would Americans react like
that to a little spat with a for-
eign pop singer? Would Euro-
peans? Would any other
developed people be transfixed
by the comings and goings of a
celebrity from abroad, then join
ranks and puff out their chests
and stand up for the flag when
C\--/