Madonna Stuns Instagram with Pic of Male Israeli/Arab Couple

Photo: Israeli and Palestinian men embrace

Credit: Madonna Instagram

Madonna, living up to her affinity for shock value recently, has "shocked" fans everywhere with her recent Instagram post featuring what appears to be a gay Jewish-Palestinian couple.

In the post that hit Instagram on Sunday, two men can be seen leaning into one another, their noses touching. However, that wasn’t the most surprising aspect of the photo itself. The real shock lay in the men’s religious wear - one male donned a yarmulke, while the other sports the Palestinian headscarf. Accompanying the photo was the caption “This image is 100”, a heart emoji and the #rebelhearts - Madonna’s new album title.

Of course, the image itself garnered an insane number of mixed reviews from Madonna’s 3.9 million followers on Instagram, with over 75k likes as of Tuesday afternoon. While some fans commented with “Love does not discriminate” or “Love has no religion”, other followed up with things like “Islam doesn’t support homosexuality and if someone doesn’t like that then they don’t have to be Muslim. It’s that simple.”

Additionally, while the image prompted a huge focus on homosexuality and religion, it also prompted a discussion regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some fans clearly stated their sides with Palestine or Israel. However, there were a few comments that spoke of the possibility of the conflict ending on peaceful terms. One fan replied that the image itself “shows we could be united together in peace”, only to face a response from another fan who wrote, “I don’t think the man on the right is going to be able to do that anytime soon…”