Madonna bodyguards questioned by Israeli police

Israeli police today detained two of Madonna’s bodyguards after they assaulted photographers waiting for the star outside her Tel Aviv hotel.

Two of the photographers and a policeman who tried to break up the brawl were wounded, said Tel Aviv police spokesperson Liat Pearl.

“Two security guards were detained for questioning by the Tel Aviv police department,” said Pearl.

The pop diva has been in Israel since Wednesday with 2,000 other followers of Kabbalah, the branch of Jewish mysticism with which she has become involved.

Madonna’s visit to the country has sparked a media frenzy with the local dailies devoting pages detailing her luxury hotel suite and even her menu for the Jewish New Year celebrations, but journalists have been kept at a distance during the visit.

The scuffle broke out tonight as the photographers trailed Madonna back from a restaurant to her hotel.

The star’s Israeli bodyguards knocked one of the photographers to the floor and kicked him in the face, before attacking the second one who tried to intervene, according to a cameraman on assignment for Associated Press Television News, who was at the scene.

Madonna had already entered her hotel when the fight broke out.

Madonna was raised a Roman Catholic, but has taken an interest in the Kabbalah in recent years.

She has adopted the Hebrew name Esther, wears a red thread on her wrist to ward off "the evil eye", and reportedly refuses to perform on the Jewish Sabbath.

Designer Donna Karan and Marla Maples, an ex-wife of Donald Trump, were among those traveling with Madonna, according to the Los Angelese based Kabbalah Centre, sponsor of the trip.