Education
He studied Greek and philosophy in Jerusalem, at the Sorbonne and at Cambridge, and he teaches literature in Tel Aviv University.
He studied Greek and philosophy in Jerusalem, at the Sorbonne and at Cambridge, and he teaches literature in Tel Aviv University.
As a poet, he has published some 20 books, and English translations of his poetry have appeared in numerous journals, including the American Poetry Review, the London Review of, and Parnassus: Poetry in Review. His poetic style had varied through the years, spanning between minimalist, warm, romantic poetry ("The Domestic Poem"), through controversial erotic poetry ("Ziva") and to fierce political poetry ("Sun Sun"). Shabtai is an outspoken critic of Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories, and of human rights violations against Palestinians.
In 2006, he refused to participate in the Eizenberg Shalom International Poetry Festival in Jerusalem, writing that he opposed "an international poetry festival in a city in which the Arab inhabitants are oppressed systematically and cruelly imprisoned between walls, deprived of their rights and living spaces, humiliated in checkpoints and the international laws are violated." In the summer of 2006 he opposed Israel"s bombing raids against Lebanon.