Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a Passover gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
The Schmooze

Britney Spears’ First Trip to Israel Was Pure Chaos

While most of us were celebrating America by consuming our weight in alcohol and ice cream this weekend, Britney Spears was honoring independence with her very first trip to Israel.

The singer was there to perform on Monday night but her Israeli fan base was reportedly not content to reserve their basking in her glory only for the concert hall. According to Ynet News, Spears was accosted by a riotous mob of fans while attempting a visit to the Western Wall.

“It was a huge mess, with hundreds of fans and photographers gathered around her,” said a source to Ynet News. “It was a real ‘Israeli celebration’; she didn’t stop an excursion during any other part of her latest tour. This could only happen here.”

Overexcited fans exist everywhere, of course, but because the Western Wall is only accessible on foot, Spears’ security had a hard time keeping her safe from the crowd.

Luckily, the pop star survived the encounter with her adoring masses but the experience allegedly caused her to cancel a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu that would have involved making the acquaintance of several children with cancer. However, some sources say that the meeting had never been confirmed by the Spears camp in the first place.

It’s never a good look to cancel a meeting with childhood cancer victims, even an alleged one, but, in Spears’ defense, I’m sure it’s exhausting to stare down thousands of your biggest fans as they try to express their love for you via stampede.

Which isn’t to say I’m blaming the fans. After all, it was Spears’ first ever visit to the country. Can you really blame those who have been waiting so patiently for refusing to waste their one opportunity to tell the star exactly how they feel about her and perhaps pull from her head a single strand of blonde hair for their scrapbook?

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter at @arr_scott

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.