Interest was sparked last week by the city of Netanya’s declaration that it fully intended to become the new Ibiza of the Middle East. Some spluttered over their cornflakes, some laughed out loud, while others just shook their heads in disbelief.
Netanya has a great coastline, some 14km long with cliffs, a nice promenade and some great sea views. It also has close to 200,000 residents, with plans to almost double this in the next ten years or so. But I’m not so sure that doubling of residents will be down to Netanya becoming the new party capital of the region.
Netanya has a sizable English-speaking community, as well as a large number of French and Russian Jewish immigrants. But this population is not exactly the youngest in Israel, and plans to turn Netanya into a hip, happening hotspot might just get the blue-rinse crowd out into the streets, placards aloft.
But I guess it only takes one visionary, one person with the guts and determination to take a city forward, and Netanya seems to have that in Culture Councillor Zuzi Zilberberg, who really does think Netanya can be the next best thing on the world party scene:
In my opinion, the beaches in Netanya are no less spectacular than the ones in Ibiza. I think that our beach fronts are an inextricable part of our culture. Let’s see what we can do to attract the youth masses to our beaches, just as Ibiza did.
We say any city that has a vision to bring itself bang into the 21st century is brave and probably deserving of a pat or two on the back. But what is wrong with Netanya being, well, Netanya? Does it really have to be the new Ibiza, especially with a city like Tel Aviv, The City That Never Sleeps, just down the road?