Madonna issues peace call at Kabbalist conference in Israel

After midnight prayers at the grave of a rabbinical sage, singer Madonna has called for world peace at a conference on Kabbalah. It is seen as a highlight of her five-day visit to Israel. The pop star's trip has raised hopes that tourism to the Holy Land, battered by four years of violence, will receive a boost. Madonna told fellow Kabbalists that she was hesitant to come to Israel "after seeing so many news reports about terror attacks" and reading US State Department travel warnings. But the biggest danger she had faced were "a few very naughty Paparazzi waiting outside my hotel," she told the audience. Madonna arrived in Israel on Wednesday to take part in the 2,000-person gathering coinciding with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Last Friday, two of her bodyguards beat up waiting photographers outside her Tel Aviv hotel.