Israel Says She Loves You to Beatles Paul McCartney

Life is obviously a magical mystery tour. And for all those of us who live in Israel, the long and winding road just became a bit more scenic. With the surprise announcement by Beatles singer and composer Sir Paul McCartney he will undoubtedly be performing in Tel Aviv the following month, the Jewish nation has had a smiling leap back 40 years with time.

From car radios, open market CD players and inside elegant, modern stores, the warm, loving, magical and mythical blends of Beatles music permeate every city and town in Israel. From Metulla, Haifa and Katzrin in the North, to Hadera, Ra'anana, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to Ashkelon, Ashdod, Rehovot, Dimona and Eilat in the south one can hear the sweet voices Paul, John, Ringo and George.

A host of Web 2 2.0 Facebook groups with a number of YouTube videos have been created to celebrate and promote Sir Paul McCartney's historic stop by at the Holy Land.

In January, Israel ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, handed a letter of apology to Julia Baird, sister of the late John Lennon, apologizing for a ban that Israel had positioned on the Beatles back 1965.

The story begins back 43 years ago once the Beatles were invited to execute in Israel with a concert which never took place. At the time Israel officials cited financial problems, nonetheless it was more than money that kept the Beatles away. Official permission necessary to withdraw precious forex to pay the Beatles was denied just because a ministerial committee feared the corrupting influence of four long-haired Englishmen.

The Israel committee report put it: "The Beatles have an insufficient artistic level and cannot add to the spiritual and cultural life of the youth in Israel."

Appears like this Israel committee was smoking stronger stuff than anything the Beatles could have experienced with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The Israel politicians believed that The Beatles would corrupt innocent Israeli youth. But was it really naive Israel politicians?

Criticism over the cancellation was directed at former Israel Education Ministry Director-General Yaakov Schneider, whose ministry was required to approve the performance of foreign bands in Israel.

In a full page one story in the newspaper Haaretz, former Minister of Education and Environment Yossi Sarid stated that real cause of the cancellation was due to a rivalry between two promoters in Israel. One had been offered a Beatles concert in 1962, before their star had risen, by Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, and had turned them down. When a competitor booked them three years later, the first promoter used his government connections to help keep the needed money from being disbursed.

"I could assure you that my father had never heard about the Beatles," Sarid said this week. "The promoter of course didn't come to the government and say, 'I don't like this other guy and I don't want him to find the money.' He said this can be a lousy group and will corrupt the spirit of the wonderful, brilliant, pure Israel youngsters. He exploited their ignorance."

Fast forward to 2008 in Liverpool. Prosor, among Israel's most senior and long-serving diplomats, was only seven yrs . old when the "misunderstanding" between London and Jerusalem took place. But Prosor is a man who quite likely knows the lyrics to many Beatles tune and was not about to miss out on an opportunity to enhance the celebration of Israel's 60th birthday.

In a letter he wrote to the Beatles and their relatives: "There is no doubt that it was a great missed possibility to prevent people like you, who shaped the minds of the generation, to come quickly to Israel and perform."

The two surviving Beatles, Sir Paul McCartney, 65, and Ringo Starr, 67, were expected to join the anniversary celebrations in Israel in-may but never showed.

But McCartney is no fool on the hill. He realizes the significance of Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East and may even see himself as you who might be able to bridge and get together with some peace through his music.

An enormous outdoor concert in Tel Aviv on September 25 has been confirmed by Sir McCartney.

In his Website, Sir Paul McCartney announced his 'Friendship First' concert in Israel stating: "Israel will finally get the chance to experience a night of music and history Macca-style; the night time they are waiting decades for."

Sir Paul added: "I've heard so many great things about Tel Aviv and Israel, but hearing is a very important factor and experiencing it for yourself is another. We are planning to have an enjoyable experience and a great evening. We can't wait to get out there and rock."

The Paul McCartney show, made by promoter Dudu Zerzevsky, is expected to cost upward of $8 million to produce and will need a 100-person production team, extensive security, an extra-large stage, an expansive audio system, and two vegetarian kitchens at the show's location.

The producers of the single appearance by Paul McCartney in Israel be prepared to break despite having a take of 10 million NIS on the function. These numbers activate before any sponsorships happen. The businessman backing the event, Yakir Sha'ashua believes it will attract a capacity crowd to Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park, that may accommodate around 70,000 people.

The Israel business newspaper Globes states that the cost of bringing Beatle Paul McCartney to Israel will reach over NIS 30 million, half of which will head to McCartney and his promoters, as the other half will cover production costs. Price now stand at NIS 1,500 for a front row ticket and NIS 500 for a seat on grass in the park. The promoters will need to sell 50,000 tickets only to cover the cost. This can be a initial quantity that may continue sale at the Leean ticket offices.

According to British media, McCartney, has invited his girlfriend, 47-year-old New York Long Islander Nancy Shevell, to accompany him on the tour. The couple just finished a monthlong road trip over the famed Route 66 in america, where these were spotted by shocked fans at campsites, gas stations and motels.

But the McCartney visit to Israel will be definately not stealth.

A large number of hate sites also have popped up by Palestinians, Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hizbollah, Islamic Jihad and all those who think that Paul McCartney can be an infidel.

Propagandist Eileen Fleming, who deserves a gold Olympic medal for hateful incitement on an Arab Site, does not give peace the opportunity.

She states: "I wondered what Lennon might have said to his old mate in regards to earning money from an apartheid state. Apartheid Israel continues to illegally occupy Palestinian along with other Arab lands."

We in Israel ask what Apartheid?

Israel Arabs serve in the Knesset, they are equal citizens.

It is extreme Islam which truly practices apartheid with the clear separation of men from women, treating women as second class slaves, the murdering of homosexuals, labeling anyone who's not Islamic an infidel and deserves to be beheaded in the same manner as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Actually, Islamic apartheid transcends mere separation and ups the ante with the beheading of anyone who argues with the Satanic verses of the Koran. Can we also add Holocaust denial and clearly stating to "wipe Israel off the map" to the aforementioned?

Fleming continues: "Israel has been "committing horrific war crimes in the occupied Gaza Strip, where its illegal and immoral policy of collective punishment - through a hermetic military siege and an almost complete blockage of fuel, energy, and even food and medicine - is pushing 1.5 million Palestinian civilians to the brink of starvation. Israel's wanton killings of civilians, demolition of homes and property, uprooting greater than a million fruit bearing trees, incessant theft of land and water resources, denial of freedom of movement to millions, dividing indigenous Palestinian's into Bantustans caged by walls, fences and hundreds of roadblocks, is not to be celebrated, but condemned and changed."

Can Fleming pass the pipe? Is that grass, hash or crack?

She actually is about as stoned as the committee which originally rejected the Beatles back in 1965!

Eileen, sorry to bust your bubble, but if you have not heard, Iran backed Hamas controls Gaza, not Israel. And as for starvation where are the Arab nations helping the citizens of Gaza? They don't need too as over 300 humanitarian UN and Red Cross trucks defy Hamas daily, bringing in food, medicine and fuel.

Gaza has food and water. They only thing that Gazans lack are freedom and democracy.

Eileen, do you think Iran will invite Sir Paul to play in Teheran? Nah, they will probably think that he'll corrupt Iran youth.

David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Post puts it right.

Horovitz states that: "after all these years of looking forward to you, Sir Paul, what we're getting is merely "a day in the life." David now places some Beatles lyrics into Israeli reality.

Any Time At All - I want to get the complaint in early: I know we banned you in 1965, but achieved it really have to take this long? "Any moment at all." That's everything you promised. "Whatever you gotta do is call, and I'm going to be there." That was 43 years ago! Forty-three years to answer the phone?

Come Together - All credit to John Lennon for this astoundingly prescient critique of our internal divides, of the boundless intolerance we in the Jewish state exhibit for methods to Judaism that differ from our own. I guess we're not "good looking" enough, because those opportunities for Jewish harmony really must not be "so hard to see."

Drive My Car - In Israel? Are you currently crazy? Take my advice, Sir Paul: Let someone else drive it.

Eight Days A Week - You sing it, Israel lives it - six-day work week, two-day weekend. What we actually need is nine days a week, so the Orthodox among us get a proper weekend too.

Give Peace THE OPPORTUNITY - Believe me, Paulie, we've tried. We said yes to two states in 1948, and we have been doing so ever since. Have you thought about singing this to the Iranians?

The Beatles were a pop and rock group from Liverpool, England that was formed in 1960.

The talented and creative group consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals).

The Beatles are recognised for leading the 1960s musical "British Invasion" into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s stone and homegrown skiffle, the group explored new musical sounds which range from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, hair styles, and political statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend in to the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.

After the band split up in 1970, all four members embarked upon solo careers.

The Beatles are probably one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the annals of popular music, selling over a billion records internationally. In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released a lot more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one, earning more number 1 albums than any other group in English chart history. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries; their record company, EMI, estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion records worldwide.

Based on the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles have sold more albums in the usa than any other band. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles number one on its list of 100 Greatest Artists ever. According to Rolling Stone, The Beatles' innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still very evident today.

The Hebrew name for the Beatles back in 1965 that was printed on the tickets is worth noting. The performers might have been universally referred to as the Beatles, however in Israel, then still attempting to create a culture buffered from foreign words and influence, these were Hipushiot Haketzev, or the Beat Beetles (like the bugs). Exactly what will the tickets look like in 2008?

In the rapidly growing Facebook group - Israel Welcomes Beatles Sir James Paul McCartney To Tel Aviv - this writer comments: "The producers Dudu and Boaz Zerzevsky and yourself are very well aware that your visit represents a genuine, defining moment of history. Therefore, please remember that Tel Aviv isn't New York, London, Montreal, Rome or Paris. One out of four children reside in poverty in Israel. The average wage is 1,500 USD per month.

The average Israeli cannot even imagine seeing nor hearing you live.

Please, as a respected humanitarian, produce two more concerts - one in Jerusalem and the other in Haifa. Donate part of the proceeds to your hungry children.

Please lower the expense of the non-VIP tickets. For around this moment, the non-VIP tickets ARE VIP tickets - well out of your reach of the Israeli public.

Paul - we wish you a safe, fun and comfortable trip to this magical Holy Land.

May your presence and music unite the countless divisions for which the peoples of the region suffer from.

And perhaps you just might want to drop in on English educated Syria President Bashar Assad and have him to remove a few landmines from the Syria and Lebanon borders. Don't allow it be."

The aforementioned news content was edited and SEO optimized in Israel online by the Leyden Communications Group.

Israel Says She Loves You To Beatles Paul McCartney

By Joel Leyden

Israel News Agency