NEW YORK (AP) — Some big-name politicians are joining Jewish protesters in a growing firestorm against an opera they say glorifies Palestinian terrorists.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former New York Gov. George Pataki and two U.S. congressmen are among hundreds expected outside the Metropolitan Opera on Monday to protest the Met premiere of “The Death of Klinghoffer.”
It’s based on the 1985 murder of a disabled Jewish passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, on the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship hijacked by four members of the Palestinian Liberation Front. The 69-year-old New York retiree was shot in his wheelchair and pushed overboard.
Organizers plan to bring 100 symbolic wheelchairs to the rally at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan.
The Met already has canceled its planned November movie theater and radio broadcasts of American composer John Adams’ 1991 work amid pressure from Jewish groups — especially the Anti-Defamation League — whose members say the music romanticizes Klinghoffer’s killers, along with the opening “Chorus of Exiled Palestinians.”
Met General Manager Peter Gelb warned the broadcasts could trigger anti-Semitism overseas.
But opera expert Fred Plotkin says the work depicts the Klinghoffers as the moral backbone.
“Does this opera present the killers in a favorable light? No,” he says. “Are the Klinghoffers far and away the most sympathetic characters in the opera, the ones we care about most? I believe so.”
The Klinghoffers’ daughters, Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer, issued a statement that will be included in the opera’s playbill, the ADL announced in a release.
It says in part that while they believe the arts “can play a critical role in examining and understanding significant world events, ‘The Death of Klinghoffer’ does no such thing. It presents false moral equivalencies without context, and offers no real insight into the historical reality and the senseless murder of an American Jew.
“Our family was not consulted by the composer and librettist and had no role in the development of the opera,” the sisters added.
The opera has been a lightning rod since February, when it was first scheduled for this season.
The opposition is now reaching fever pitch, with word spreading that protesters may try to disrupt Monday’s performance.
It’s the second large New York demonstration against the work since the Met’s Sept. 22 season opening night, when protesters carried signs that read “Klinghoffer Opera/Propaganda Masquerading as Art” and jeered at arriving spectators.
Plotkin notes that many “Klinghoffer” opponents have never seen the work.
The Met is advertising it with the slogan: “See it. Then decide.”
“The Death of Klinghoffer” was first premiered in Brussels in 1991, with little controversy, then in various European cities as well as at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where it was greeted with both praise and anger — especially from Klinghoffer’s two daughters.
“The Death of Klinghoffer” runs through Nov. 15 at the Met.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If Giuliani’s agin it, I’m fer it.
Seriously, I understand that it’s a wonderful piece that in no way glorifies the killers. And if you silenced all the bad guys in opera, you’d have a pretty thin repertoire.
"The Klinghoffers’ daughters, Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer, issued a statement that … says in part that while they believe the arts “can play a critical role in examining and understanding significant world events, ‘The Death of Klinghoffer’ does no such thing. It presents false moral equivalencies without context, and offers no real insight into the historical reality and the senseless murder of an American Jew.”
File this under “be careful what you ask for”. More context does not necessarily cast Israel in a more favorable light. Their problem is that there is too much context.
“Met General Manager Peter Gelb warned the broadcasts could trigger anti-Semitism overseas.”
Ridiculous. If you think some small time opera that you’re deliberately misinterpreting will be the magic catalyst sparking widespread anti-semitism in the middle east YOU HAVE NOT BEEN FUCKING PAYING ATTENTION. Day late, dollar short on that analysis, fucknuts. Get a life. Art, offensive or not, should be allowed to do its thing. The show must go on.
“It presents false moral equivalencies without context, and offers no real insight into the historical reality”
Oh, I see, so when some who-gives-a-shit opera does it, it’s suddenly a big problem, but when it’s the entire Fourth Estate, no biggy!
Thank goodness I don’t relay on Mayor 9/11+words to determine whether I choose to patronize a particular artistic endeavor. I would wonder if this idiot has even seen the performance. My opinion is no, he has not, but he has jumped on the anti-Klinghoffer bandwagon. Wait, I have a solution; if widdle Rudy is so worried that he might be offended by some content in this production, he should probably stay home, and continue masturbating to his fantasies of some day becoming President. How dare he, and these other protestors try to stop ME from enjoying a nice evening at the Met? All of these people can take a long walk off a short pier; it’s just not up to them to vet my tastes. Screw 'em all.