{"id":2087756,"date":"2025-10-13T13:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2087756"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:44:12","slug":"belgian-mayor-cancels-rock-concert-over-safety-concerns-given-lead-singers-support-for-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/belgian-mayor-cancels-rock-concert-over-safety-concerns-given-lead-singers-support-for-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian mayor cancels rock concert over safety concerns given lead singer\u2019s support for Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HLB474UQHRDCVD3B5SDWEYKTTM\">The mayor of a municipality in Belgium has canceled an upcoming concert by the rock band Disturbed over safety concerns due to lead singer David Draiman\u2019 comments about the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"666HGPZEBFE25AF6AMVSJ24QW4\">The band was scheduled to perform Oct. 15 at the Forest National in Brussels as part of its \u201cThe Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7GITUBEY7RAINKUTVMF4RWJDEI\">However, according to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brusselstimes.com\/1788547\/forest-mayor-bans-metal-concert-over-public-safety-concerns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.brusselstimes.com\/1788547\/forest-mayor-bans-metal-concert-over-public-safety-concerns\">The Brussel Times,<\/a> a police risk assessment warned that the band\u2019s appearance could lead to violent demonstrations. As a result, Forest Mayor Charles Spapens has issued a police order banning the concert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"KFK3NZDZXBGAFCMHKRSWAWV7QU\">\u201cMy responsibility and priority are the safety of residents, neighbors, demonstrators, spectators and staff at Forest National,\u201d Spapens said. \u201cGiven the police\u2019s negative advice and the venue\u2019s unique location, it was my duty to make this decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"GHE4M442U5C2XCHIUHTE7B2B5A\">Spapens had lobbied for the concert to be canceled earlier, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/disturbed-belgium-concert-canceled-safety-concerns-1235445495\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/disturbed-belgium-concert-canceled-safety-concerns-1235445495\/\">Rolling Stone reported<\/a>, after Draiman tweeted a photo in June of him signing IDF bombs with the phrase \u201c[Expletive] Hamas\u201d during a visit to Israel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"SDV5VRT26FC53OR5SM3Q5CEEDY\">\u201cThis is about a man who signed a bomb that was dropped on Gaza. We do not support the presence of this artist, and even less so his position on Gaza,\u201d Spapens said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"A2JKQJBUDBA77BWFH2J3LVBIYU\">The show was also scheduled to take place one day after a national strike and other demonstrations in Brussels, including a prison staff strike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"5CDCVKZX6RBQXKCOTJZ5KNCHQU\">Tickets for the show are still available <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.livenation.be\/event\/disturbed-the-sickness-25th-anniversary-tour-brussels-tickets-edp1564071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.livenation.be\/event\/disturbed-the-sickness-25th-anniversary-tour-brussels-tickets-edp1564071\">on Live Nation,<\/a> as well as on <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/disturbed1.com\/tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/disturbed1.com\/tour\/\">the band\u2019s website. <\/a>Neither the band nor Draiman has released any statement in response yet. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OZN72HARDVGRDK2JQLAHJHR53E\">Israel has been accused by several organizations, including the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/clyr154314vo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/clyr154314vo\">U.N.Human Rights Council,<\/a> of carrying out genocidal acts against the Palestinian people. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"QW4XTOBJ5NFAXPNF5FIJFWWFVY\">An October 2023 attack by the terrorist group Hamas on Israeli soil resulted in about 1,200 killed and 251 people taken hostage. The Gaza Health Ministry and other organizations estimate <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/how-many-palestinians-has-israels-gaza-offensive-killed-2025-10-07\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/how-many-palestinians-has-israels-gaza-offensive-killed-2025-10-07\/\">about 67,000 Palestinians<\/a> have been killed since then. <\/p>\n<section class=\"Stories-By-Author-module_wrapper__ezbcK Stories-By-Author-module_pennlive__ZLl6r\" data-gaid=\":Rdraq6:\"\/><\/div>\n<p>If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.<span> By using this site, you consent to our <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/user-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/privacy-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.pennlive.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The mayor of a municipality in Belgium has canceled an upcoming concert by the rock band Disturbed over safety concerns due to lead singer David Draiman\u2019 comments about the conflict in Gaza. The band was scheduled to perform Oct. 15 at the Forest National in Brussels as part of its \u201cThe Sickness 25th Anniversary Tour.\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[25890],"class_list":["post-2087756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-performance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2087756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2087757,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087756\/revisions\/2087757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2087756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2087756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2087756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}