Along those lines, there's a running joke through Scream Queens about an Arab mental patient and murderer who in many ways is the most likeable character even if he does assert a nefarious view of Israel when he declares that Robinson Crusoe must have been a Jew. The idea seems to be that Israel is guilty now of what Crusoe did by standing up hypocritically as a beacon of democracy and civilization. The Arab is quickly yanked out and thrown into prison, essentially for being an Arab. Any chance of "rehabilitation" is lost. Similarly, if Elbom leaves Israel in repulsion, he will become just another wandering Jew, only with all the Crusoe-like righteousness. Elbom wants to refuse any path of didacticism and he especially wants to avoid being called anti-Zionist or a self-hating Jew. He wants to eradicate the very concepts.
Elbom's generation of Israelis is a lost one, a product of a thoroughly stifling society, one so flooded with American pop-culture that all thought is derivative of pornography and heavy metal. For Elbom, America is only an extension of Israel. It is an endless fun house, but also one hell of a horror show. Any dissent is simply attacking the face in the mirror. It's a rare novel that depends so much on pop culture and yet has such high stakes. Controversial as it is, there's a good chance many will be too busy smiling to notice.
