What’s YOUR favorite social media account dedicated to transportation infrastructure?

I know mine.

Traffic circles have great benefits, like easing stop-and-go traffic, reducing road noise and — in the case of the rare two-lane roundabout — giving drivers the occasional reminder that they are mere mortals whose lives could be snuffed out in the time it takes a groggy parent to glance at Spotify and start the kids’ favorite playlist.

That said, there is a certain obsession with these circular intersections in Israel which has led to a kind of rarely discussed but commonly understood culture.

Nearly every roundabout in the country is adorned with some kind of statue, sculpture or fixture. 

Dizengoff Fountain, for example, is a Tel Aviv landmark on a roundabout; in Pardes Hanna, where I live, there is a statue of a farmer who is commonly adorned with the symbols of the latest protest or social movement: pride flags, political banners calling for democracy or, most recently, a flapping yellow cape reminding drivers that there are at least 132 hostages still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

And for the last three years, another highlight in the world of Israeli traffic circles has taken center stage: Kikar Hakadurim — Hebrew for “The Balls Roundabout” — is an intersection in the city of Lod that plays host to a sculpture of seven giant balls, each its own vibrant color and perched atop a pole.

This in and of itself is nothing to write home about, but the traffic circle has something unique: its own TikTok account, which to date has posted 349 videos featuring memes and jokes about the sculpture. 

As well, the circle has its own Instragram, Twitter and Facebook pages. Across its suite of social-media accounts, the traffic circle has accumulated over 43,000 followers.

Tomer Saar, the TikTok account’s creator, tells ISRAEL21c that the entire social-media movement was a gag about how the Hebrew word for “balls” is interchangeable with the word for “bullets.”

“It all started as a joke,” Saar explains. 

Branding with balls

It used to be that typing the city’s name into Google would conjure news articles about shootings — a less-than-rare occurrence, considering that Lod’s notoriously negative reputation has earned it the unofficial title of “the murder capital of Israel.”

Located near Ben-Gurion International Airport and less than 10 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, Lod has a mixed Arab-Jewish population of about 90,000.

“I created a new branding for the square with balls and called it ‘Kikar Hakadurim Lod’ to make Google’s algorithm like my result more than the hundreds of articles,” Saar elaborates. 

“Since then the matter has developed into a large community that comes to visit and take an interest in the square in the city of Lod.”

Indeed, the social-media movement has gained so much attention that it has spawned an independently organized project dedicated to further mending Lod’s reputation. 

The project’s website, loooooood.com (which is spelled with seven Os to represent the seven balls in the roundabout), now offers souvenirs for purchase by those interested in the iconic traffic circle and perpetuating the positive image it puts forward.

Visitors to the site can order ball-adorned Israeli flags, t-shirts, hats, commemorative magnets and more memorabilia dedicated to the traffic circle’s septet of spherical centerpieces. 

Positive outlook

Today, running the account is a task that Saar —  a third-year student of politics and communication who works at the Lod youth center — finds both meaningful and enjoyable, though it definitely takes a lot of his time.

“The content that appears on the various platforms is mainly content that is produced on weekends and scheduled for the course of the week,” he says. 

“It can be a simple meme and it can go as far as an elaborate and well-edited video. Therefore the time [spent on the project] varies according to the content, but it is very enjoyable regardless of the preparation time.”

While many people might think of the city as a geographical red flag, scrolling through the cornucopia of content that the TikTok account has on display paints a picture of a different Lod; a Lod that has a sense of humor, a positive outlook and — one mustn’t forget — seven large colored balls in the middle of a traffic circle.

As Saar puts it, “Lod suffers from a negative image, and this project comes to change the image in a funny way. TikTok is just a means for that.”