ISRAEL:WHEN HE steps on stage tonight in Tel Aviv, legendary Beatles star Paul McCartney won't only have defied suicide bomb threats and political pressures, he will also finally be putting to bed a 43-year-old snub.
In 1965 McCartney and his fellow Beatles were barred from playing in Israel by the government, which believed the group would have a corrupting influence on the country's youth. Asked earlier this month about the ban, McCartney said the group had been "very amused," but had felt bad for Brian Epstein, their Jewish manager. "His family in Liverpool, I'm sure they were mortified, but we didn't really mind," he said. Earlier this year an official letter of apology was sent to McCartney and Ringo Starr and to family members of John Lennon and George Harrison.
In tonight's show, McCartney (66) will perform a mixture of Beatles hits as well as many of the popular tracks he has produced during his solo career.
In the run-up to the concert, an extremist Muslim cleric threatened that the Beatles star could be attacked by suicide bombers if he went ahead with the concert in Israel. McCartney has also resisted pressure from pro-Palestinian groups to call off his visit on the grounds that it symbolises support for Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
McCartney made a point yesterday of touring the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where he visited the Church of the Nativity, built over the site that tradition marks as the birthplace of Jesus. "I'm here to highlight the situation and to say that what we need is peace in this region, a two-state solution," he said.
"I get criticised everywhere I go, but I don't listen to them," he said. "I'm bringing a message of peace, and I think that's what the region needs."
Earlier this month, he said he had been approached "by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come [to Israel]. I refused. I do what I think, and I have many friends who support Israel."
The daily Haaretzreported yesterday that McCartney was staying in a 200-square-metre suite in his Tel Aviv hotel and had brought his personal chef.
Some 50,000 Israelis are expected to turn out at Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park tonight to see McCartney, with the cheapest tickets selling for 500 shekels (about €100), expensive by Israeli standards. Tickets in the VIP section are going for over €950 each.