Tel Aviv = Sin City

I forget who asked this question but I read someone's blog who asked why the radio DJ in the film equated Tel Aviv with Sin City. Based on my own limited experience I'll try and answer the question. Tel Aviv emerged in the early 1900s outside of the ancient city of Yaffo or Jaffa depending on who you ask. If Jerusalem is the religious center of Israel, Tel Aviv is the economic and cultural hub. Also, since most countries do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, pretty much all of the international embassies are in Tel Aviv, as well as the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and some 20 out of the 35 major arts centers of the country.

So anyway, since Jerusalem is all holy and everything, it shuts down for the Shabbath. Or at least the religious Israeli parties want it that way. So the DJ was making the joke that the government officials make their way to Tel Aviv because it is a modern, global metropolis that doesn't sleep. That's basically the joke... but the issue of modern secularism vs. religious traditionalism is HUGE DEAL in Israel.