Ex-Mayor Giuliani To Lead Protest Against ‘Death of Klinghoffer’
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani reportedly will lead a protest against the controversial opera “The Death of Klinghoffer.”
The opera, which tells the story of the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists and the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old Jewish-American passenger in a wheelchair, will premiere at the New York Metropolitan Opera House on Monday. The opera by John Adams debuted in 1991. Protesters charge that the production is anti-Semitic, hostile to Israel and sympathetic to terrorists.
The Anti-Defamation League has said that while the opera itself is not anti-Semitic, “there is a concern the opera could be used in foreign countries as a means to stir up anti-Israel sentiments or as a vehicle to promote anti-Semitism.”
Under heavy criticism, the Met decided in June to cancel a planned global simulcast for November of the opera. But it stuck to its decision to stage the show in New York.
Last month, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Met on its Opening Night Gala chanting “Shame on the Met!” and “Say no to the show!” in protest of the Met’s decision to produce the controversial opera.
Among the politicians expected to join Monday’s rally are former Republican N.Y. Gov. George Pataki, and Congressman Eliot Engel (D- N.Y.)l, as well as former Gov. David Paterson, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and Congressman Peter King, the New York Observer reported.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO