Neil Young’s Tel Aviv concert cancelled amid Gaza security concerns

Israeli police have cancelled a planned concert by Canadian rock singer Neil Young, due to take place in Tel Aviv on Thursday, over fears the event will be targeted amid the ongoing escalation of bombing in Gaza.

In the past week, rockets have been fired into Israel leadig to one death, while Israel has carried out air strikes on the Gaza Strip, wounding more than 1,500 Palestinians.

Officials in Gaza estimate that around 203 people have been killed during the ongoing Israeli operation, named “Protective Edge.”

Israeli authorities have deemed the concert to be too high of a security risk to go forward, the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, Young’s spokesman commented that the show was cancelled “with heavy hearts and deep sadness” and on the music website Pitchfork gave the reason for withdrawal to be “due to tensions which have rendered the event unsafe at this time.”

Neil was said to have been looking forward “to playing in Israel and Palestine in peace,” according to the website.

Roughly 30,000 tickets had been sold and it would have been Young, 68, and his band, Crazy Horse’s, first performance in Israel since the 1990s.

Young said he would “be making donations to both the Louise & Tillie Alpert Youth Music Centre of Israel, and Heartbeat, two organizations that teach music to Palestinian and Israeli youth simultaneously by enabling them to play music together,” according to the BBC.