According to the Sun, Madonna has dropped three planned gigs in Israel after apparently receiving death threats against herself and her two children. The paper reports that Madonna "freaked out" when she heard about the threats, which are being linked to an unnamed Palestinian group. Word is the singer originally planned to defy the threats and perform anyway until another letter from the group named her children.
The paper quotes a source close to Madonna as saying: "The notes were unbelievably scary. Madonna is a strong woman but she freaked out when her kids were mentioned. At first she was prepared to go on stage anyway and hire extra security. But she was not ready to take chances with her kids - they are her whole world."
There has been no official comment from Madonna's people on the reports - the official reason for the cancellation of the three Israel dates is that Madonna wants to concentrate on touring Europe.