Notes

Israel Says She Loves You to Beatles Paul McCartney
Life is certainly a magical mystery tour. And for all those of us who reside in Israel, the long and winding road just became a little more scenic. With the surprise announcement by Beatles singer and composer Sir Paul McCartney he will undoubtedly be performing in Tel Aviv next month, the Jewish nation has taken 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 you can hear the sweet voices Paul, John, Ringo and George.

A host of Blogging platforms 2.0 Facebook groups with several 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 placed 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 a lot more than money that kept the Beatles away. Official permission necessary to withdraw precious forex to cover the Beatles was denied 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 enhance the spiritual and cultural life of the youth in Israel."

Sounds like this Israel committee was smoking stronger stuff than anything the Beatles may have familiar with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The Israel politicians believed that The Beatles would corrupt innocent Israeli youth. But was it certainly 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 source of the cancellation was due to a rivalry between two promoters in Israel. One have been offered a Beatles concert in 1962, before their star had risen, by Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, and had turned them down. Whenever a competitor booked them three years later, the initial promoter used his government connections to keep the needed money from being disbursed.

"I can assure you that my father had never heard about the Beatles," Sarid said this week. "The promoter needless to say didn't come to the government and say, 'I can't stand this other guy and I don't want him to achieve the money.' He said it is a lousy group and can corrupt the spirit of the beautiful, 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 years old once the "misunderstanding" between London and Jerusalem took place. But Prosor is really a man who quite likely knows the lyrics to most Beatles tune and had not been about to lose 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 absolutely no doubt that it was a great missed opportunity to prevent people like you, who shaped the minds of the generation, to come 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 because the only democracy in the Middle East and could even see himself as one who might be able to bridge and come together with some peace through his music.

A huge 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 obtain the chance to experience a night of music and history Macca-style; the night they are waiting decades for."

Sir Paul added: "I've heard so many great things about Tel Aviv and Israel, but hearing is one thing and experiencing it on your own is another. We have been planning to have a great time and a great evening. We can't wait to get on the market and rock."

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

The producers of the single appearance by Paul McCartney in Israel expect to break despite having a take of 10 million NIS on the event. These numbers activate before any sponsorships happen. The businessman backing the function, Yakir Sha'ashua believes it will attract a capacity crowd to Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park, that may accommodate up to 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 go to McCartney and his promoters, as the other half covers production costs. Price now stand at NIS 1,500 for a front row ticket and NIS 500 for just a seat on grass in the park. The promoters will need to sell 50,000 tickets only to cover the cost. It is the initial quantity that will go on sale at the Leean ticket offices.

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

But the McCartney visit to Israel will be far from stealth.

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

Propagandist Eileen Fleming, who deserves a gold Olympic medal for hateful incitement on an Arab Web site, does not give peace the opportunity.
She states: "I wondered what Lennon may have thought to his old mate in regards to making money from an apartheid state. Apartheid Israel continues to illegally occupy Palestinian and 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 very much the same as Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

In fact, 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 - by way of a hermetic military siege and an almost complete blockage of fuel, electric power, 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 of more 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 a huge selection of roadblocks, isn't 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 really 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 consider Iran will invite Sir Paul to play in Teheran? Nah, they will probably think that he will corrupt Iran youth.

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

Horovitz states that: "in the end these years of waiting for you, Sir Paul, what we're getting is just "a day in the life span." David now places some Beatles lyrics into Israeli reality.

Any Time At All - Let me obtain the complaint in early: I know we banned you in 1965, but did it really have to take this long? "Any moment at all." That's what you promised. "All you gotta do is call, and I'll be there." That was 43 years back! Forty-three years to answer the phone?

Come Together - All credit to John Lennon because of 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 another person 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 weekly, so that the Orthodox among us get yourself 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 since. Have you considered 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 broke up in 1970, all members embarked upon solo careers.

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

Based on the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles have sold more albums in america than any other band. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles number 1 on its set of 100 Greatest Artists ever. In accordance with 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 which was printed on the tickets will probably be worth noting. The performers may have been universally referred to as the Beatles, however in Israel, then still attempting to create a culture buffered from foreign words and influence, they were Hipushiot Haketzev, or the Beat Beetles (like the bugs). 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 have become well aware that your visit represents a true, defining moment of history. Therefore, please remember that Tel Aviv is not NY, London, Montreal, Rome or Paris. One out of four children live in poverty in Israel. The common wage is 1,500 USD monthly.

The common Israeli cannot even dream of seeing nor hearing your home is.
Please, as a respected humanitarian, produce two more concerts - one in Jerusalem and another in Haifa. Donate a part of the proceeds to your hungry children.

Please lower the expense of the non-VIP tickets. For as of this moment, the non-VIP tickets ARE VIP tickets - well out from the 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 that the peoples of this region suffer from.

And perhaps you merely should drop in on English educated Syria President Bashar Assad and ask him to remove a few landmines from the Syria and Lebanon borders. Don't let it be."

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

Israel Says She Loves ONE TO Beatles Paul McCartney

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
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