Israel refused the Beatles permission to perform in 1965 because it feared that Beatlemania might corrupt the nation's youth. Now it has relented.

So when Sir Paul McCartney performs in Tel Aviv tomorrow it could be seen as just another pop concert, if a very belated one. But the event also helps us to gauge just how much Israel, and the world about it, has changed.

Today we may swoon to recall a time, barely four decades ago, when the biggest perceived threat to our children might be a surfeit of pop music and long hair. Sir Paul's concert is a measure of how far Israel has relaxed, modernised and embraced Western cultural freedoms.

And when the Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, apologised this year for snubbing the Beatles and explained that Israel now wished to “rectify a historic missed opportunity”, he reminded us that it is never too late to say sorry.

Sir Paul's determination to proceed with the concert in the face of a reported threat by the radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed that he risks being attacked by suicide bombers is a reminder of the sheikh's barbarism. It is also a show of courage by a singer who says he is not political, but believes in music's power to heal.

Meanwhile, threatened protests at the venue by Israeli rightwingers provide a reminder that Israel is not yet free of its own extremist rump.

Tomorrow's performance is also a moment for Sir Paul to make a loyal nod to many Jews who have shaped his life, from his late wife Linda, and his lawyer and the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein, to the band's song publisher. It is also, of course, a tribute to the joy that Beatles music still brings.

Or you could just see it as another pop concert.