Remember Madonna’s visit and concert in Israel last year? It was big news at the time and a major BDS Fail.
The Jerusalem Symposium of Green & Accessible Pilgrimage brought international leaders to Jerusalem. There were representatives of many faiths and various environmental industries, and dozens of sessions with many PowerPoint presentations.
A favorite presentation was that of Ilan Shochat, the mayor of Safed.
Safed, where there has been a continuous Jewish presence for over 2001 years, is a beautiful hilltop city surrounded by green.
It was a pilgrimage destination to well over a million tourists last year.
But Mayor Shochat’s story of being awakened at 2:00 am by the chief of police to go to the cemetery to meet… Madonna, was the winner of best story!
On her short visit to Israel, while the paparazzi were staking out the Kotel, waiting for a glimpse of her, Madonna decided instead to visit the grave of the Arizal in the Safed cemetery in the middle of the night.
Sign language translators were provided for all the speakers in the main auditorium. Mayor Shochat not only had the audience laughing, but also did a great job of using his hands instead of the usual slide show.
