Madonna offered her fans a little prayer of peace late Thursday night,
as she launched her 2012 World Tour in the Ramat Gan Stadium.
“If there is peace in the Middle East than there can be peace in the whole world,” the iconic American music superstar said.
Madonna opened her concert with the solemn toll of a bell and the utterance of God’s name in Hebrew.
She
first appeared on stage on her knees, in what looked like a
confessional booth. Only the shadowy silhouette of her body could be
seen, as she spoke.
“Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having
offended thee. And I detest all my sins because I dreamt the loss of
heaven and the pains of hell.”
Amidst her opening acts was a
particularly violent number, Gang Bang, in which she shot a man as she
sat under a large cross and sang, “Bang, bang, shot you dead.”
Blood appeared to splatter on a separate screen on stage.
She performed lighter numbers including, Express Yourself, in which she appeared in a white and red marching band uniform.
There
were, of course, raunchy songs such as, Like a Virgin, and spiritual
ones such as Like a Prayer. During that number, performers wore costumes
that were reminiscent of Catholic priests and nuns, and Biblical Hebrew
words appeared in purple lights against a black curtain.
As
Madonna sang, thousands of fans stood in the field by the stage. Many of
them held up cellphones that almost looked like a carpet of candles in
the darkness.
Midway through the concert, she stopped the music
to talk about politics and her hope for peace in the region and the
world. She made vague references to a two-state solution when she spoke
of Israel and Palestine, and giving away land.
Madonna arrived in Israel last week, after she ignored calls from fans to boycott the country.
“I chose to start my world tour in Israel for a very specific and important reason,” she said.
“All the conflicts that occur here [in the Middle East] and have been occurring here for thousands of years; they have to stop.”
She referenced her decision to offer free tickets to left wing members of Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental groups.
“There are several brave and important NGOs that are represented, both Palestine and Israel [here] together,” she said.
“You cannot be a fan of mine and not want peace in the world,” she said.
“We are all on different paths but we are all sons and daughters of the universe. We are all human beings,” she said.
“We all want to love and be loved. It is easy to say I want peace in the world. But it is another thing to do it,” Madonna said.
“If
we can all rise above our egos and our titles and the names of our
countries and our religions. If we can rise above all of that and treat
everyone around us every human being with dignity and respect than we
are on the road to peace,” Madonna said.
“So no matter how many
laws we change and how many percentages of land we give back, no matter
how many talks, no matter how many wars, if we don’t treat every human being with dignity and
respect, we will never have peace,” Madonna said.
"Start today, start now, each and every one of you is the future." She ended the concert wishing everyone shalom and salaam.