Tel Aviv Stage: Madonna calls for Mideast peace

Tel Aviv show launched the Queen of Pop’s ninth world tour.

TEL AVIV: Pop icon Madonna kicked off her 2012 world tour on Thursday with a call for peace from a Tel Aviv stage.“I chose to start my world tour in Israel for a very specific and important reason,” she said, to applause and cheers from the capacity crowd. “As you know, the Middle East and all the conflict that occurs here and have been occurring for thousands of years, they have to stop,” she added. “You can’t be a fan of mine and not want peace in the world.” “So start today — every single one of you, if there is peace here in the Middle East, there can be peace in the whole world.” The Tel Aviv show, in support of the MDNA album, launched the 53-year-old Queen of Pop’s ninth world tour and her first since her “Sticky and Sweet” outing in 2008/2009. From Israel, she is to move on to Abu Dhabi and then to Europe and the Americas before ending in early 2013 in Australia, where she has not performed in more than 20 years.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2012.