Madonna has addressed the Israel-Hamas war in a long statement during a concert at London’s O2 Arena.
At the third date of her Celebration tour, she lamented the deaths of children in the conflict as well as alleged hate crimes related to it, expanding on comments she had made about the war at earlier concerts.
She called the war “heartbreaking. Nobody wants to see what’s happening. I turn on social media and I want to vomit. I see children being kidnapped, pulled off motorcycles; babies being decapitated, children at peace raves being shot and killed. What the fuck is going on in the world? How can human beings be so cruel to one another? It’s just getting worse. It frightens me.”
She said she wanted to paraphrase American writer James Baldwin, “a great inspiration to me all my life. The children of the world belong to all of us, each and every one of them. I don’t care where they’re from, what their headdress is, what the colour of their skin is, what their religion is – the children belong to us. And we are responsible for them.”
She referred to the killing this week of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume in Chicago – 71-year-old landlord Joseph Czuba has been charged with murder after allegedly stabbing the boy. His mother was also allegedly attacked. The local sheriff’s office said: “Detectives were able to determine that both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”
Madonna called the killing “a hate crime, because he was Muslim. We have to remember we are human beings here, we cannot lose our humanity. Our hearts can be broken but our spirit cannot. No one can break our spirit. And you might look at what’s going on in the world and say, what the fuck? What can I do, I’m just one person, I’m helpless. No, you are not. Each and every one of you have the power and ability to turn light on in the world. We are all candles; we can bring light to the world. If we turn enough light on, if we light enough candles, the collective consciousness of generosity and unity will change. No politicians, no laws, no sanctions, no land given or taken. We, with our consciousness, can change the fucking world.”
Introducing the next song, she said: “It’s really hard to sing when you’re crying. And all I want to do is cry when I think about what’s happening to so many of these little children.”
Madonna has been a proponent of Kabbalah, a mystical branch of Judaism; she adopted the Hebrew name Esther and took part in Jewish religious practices such as giving her son Rocco a barmitzvah. But she said in a 2015 interview: “Am I Jewish? I mean, some people would say, well, you do a lot of things that Jews do, but I would say I do a lot of things that people did before Judaism existed. And I believe what I practise has to do with something deeper than religion, that it embodies all religions, including Judaism. And Christianity. And Islam.”
Her performance at Eurovision 2019 in Israel, which was criticised by some who support a cultural boycott in the country, featured dancers embracing wearing Israel and Palestine flags.
At the outbreak of the war last week, she wrote on Instagram: “We live in a world ravaged by hate. My heart goes out to Israel … I am aware that this is the work of Hamas and there are many innocent people in Palestine who do not support this terrorist organization. This tragic attack will only cause more suffering for everyone.”
Her Celebration tour continues in London on Wednesday, before heading across Europe and returning to London for two more dates in December. She then takes the tour to the US, for dates postponed earlier this year after she suffered a serious bacterial infection.
