Madonna paid tribute to both Israelis and Palestinians when she kicked off her Celebration world tour at London’s O2 Arena this weekend.
Hamas launched a brutal invasion of Israel from Gaza last Saturday, breaching the border by land, sea and air and slaughtering soldiers and civilians alike.
“Citizens of Israel, we are at war,” declared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who retaliated by laying siege to Gaza and pounding it with airstrikes.
The Israel Defense Forces then launched ‘localized’ attacks on the Gaza Strip this Saturday, raising the specter of a full ground invasion of the territory of more than two million Palestinians walled off by Israel and Egypt.
On stage in the UK that night, Madonna said: “There’s a lot of really crazy stuff going on in the world. What is happening in Israel and Palestine breaks my heart when I see children suffering, old people suffering.’
Using her voice: Madonna paid tribute to both Israelis and Palestinians when she kicked off her Celebration world tour at London’s O2 Arena this Saturday; in the picture during the concert
Message of hope: The Queen of Pop added: “It’s all heartbreaking, I’m sure you’ll agree – but even though our hearts are broken, our spirits can’t be broken.”
The Queen of Pop added: “It’s all heartbreaking, I’m sure you’ll agree – but even though our hearts are broken, our spirits cannot be broken.”
Madonna’s concert came five days after she condemned last weekend’s terrorist attacks, which involved Hamas fighters paragliding into the desert for peace and killing at least 260 civilians near the Iron Wall between Israel and Gaza.
“What is happening in Israel is devastating. “Watching all these families, especially the children, being guarded, attacked and killed in the streets is heartbreaking,” she wrote. ‘Imagine this happening to you?’
Madonna, who took up the tradition of Jewish Kabbalah mysticism in the 1990s, has made pilgrimages to Israel and performed in the country numerous times, even kicking off her MDNA World Tour in Tel Aviv in 2012.
As she kicked off her new Celebration world tour this Saturday night, she also addressed the shocking health crisis she suffered this summer, revealing on stage that she “didn’t think she was going to make it” after a near-death experience.
The tour was set to begin in mid-July with a North American leg that would run through over 20 cities in the United States and Canada.
However, that leg had to be shelved after Madonna’s health suffered a sudden decline that struck terror into the hearts of her global fans.
She was locked up in intensive care for several days after contracting what her manager announced was a “serious bacterial infection.”
Throwback: Madonna has performed in Israel numerous times, even kicking off her MDNA World Tour at Tel Aviv’s Ramat Gan Stadium in 2012 (pictured)
Retro: Madonna, who took up the Kabbalah tradition of Jewish mysticism in 1996, was shown in concert in Tel Aviv until 1993.
Report in Radar Online sensationally stated that she suffered acute septic shock and was revived with Narcan, which is commonly used to treat overdoses.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it, and neither did my doctors,” she said on stage Saturday. ‘That’s why I woke up with all my children sitting around me.’
She emotionally shared: “I forgot five days of my life, or my death, I don’t really know where I was.” But the angels protected me. My children were there too. And my kids always save me, every time.’
The mother-of-six added: “If you want to know how I coped and how I survived, I thought, I have to be there for my children. I have to survive for them.’
