Yahoo News on Madonna in Israel

US pop diva Madonna insisted that paparazzi and not Palestinian suicide bombers had been her only fear during a four-day visit to Israel.

“I would like to emphasize that I felt very safe and very welcome,” she said at a gala reception following her much publicized spiritual retreat.

“The most dangerous thing that I encountered were very naughty paparazzi in front of my hotel,” she said, alluding to yet another bust-up between her bodyguards and press photographers.

Saturday’s incident outside Madonna‘s hotel on Tel Aviv’s Mediterranean seafront led to two of her bodyguards being arrested and two photographers being taken to hospital.

The self-proclaimed Material Girl, a keen aficionado of the ancient Jewish mystical tradition known as Kabbalah, arrived in Israel Wednesday for a three-day retreat, which began with a traditional blessing ceremony to welcome in the Jewish new year.

Madonna turned to Kabbalah in 1997 after coming into contact with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre which, according to its website, offers a path to spiritual enlightenment through an eclectic mix of Orthodox Jewish tradition, visualisation and positive thinking.

Two months ago, she took the Hebrew name Esther and is now reportedly observing the Jewish sabbath, although she has not converted to Judaism.

Source: yahoo.news