Young Ducks Tel Aviv Rockets

Neil Young’s concert at Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park July 17 was canceled when Israeli promoter Shuki Weiss decided the continuing rocket fire in the region made it unsafe to go ahead.

Photo: AP Photo / Dan Balilty

An Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket from the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 9.

He said “the missile attacks in recent days” meant there was “fear for the audience’s safety at an event with so many participants.”

In the last 10 days, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed, as Israel retaliates for the rocket attacks on its territory. On July 10 Roger Waters – an opponent of acts playing Israel at all– made public a letter that he wrote to Young in January urging him not to sign a contract to play the Tel Aviv concert.

Young reportedly did not respond to the letter. A day later, Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder denounced Israel in an expletive-laden tirade during a concert in England.

“I swear to fucking god, there are people out there who are looking for a reason to kill,” Vedder said. “They’re looking for a reason to go across borders and take over land that doesn’t belong to them.

“They should get the fuck out, and mind their own fucking business. We don’t want to give them our money. We don’t want to give them our taxes to drop bombs on children.”

The last time Young played Israel was in 1995, during his Mirror Ball tour with Pearl Jam. It wasn’t possible to get comment from Weiss at press time.