LORI LOWENTHAL MARCUS:HUGE NYC RALLY AGAINST THE METROPOLITAN OPERA’S KLINGHOFFER OPERA
New York City Site of Huge Rally Against Met’s Klinghoffer Opera
Thousands of people converged outside of the Metropolitan Opera in NYC on Monday, Sept. 22 to denounce the staging of a wildly anti-Semitic opera, the “Death of Klinghoffer.”
Thousands of protesters showed up to tell the Metropolitan Opera patrons, arriving Monday night, Sept. 22, for the year’s black tie gala, that staging the opera named the “Death of Klinghoffer” was a vile act of anti-Semitism.
Politicians, such as former New York Governor Pataki, and U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), an Israeli knesset member, local politicians, rabbis, activists, heads of Jewish Zionist organizations and Evangelical Zionist organizations, former U.S. Attorney General Judge Michael Mukasey, victims of terrorism and Jewish high school students came to voice their protest against the “Death of Klinghoffer” opera.
Former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey spoke out strongly against the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Peter Gelb, insisting on staging the “Death of Klinghoffer” at the Metropolitan Opera. Mukasey was scathing in his denunciation of Gelb and his wrongheaded decision.
Sarri Singer, a victim of Palestinian Arab terrorism spoke out against the opera, as did several 9/11 victims, as well as a victim of African genocide.
New York City police officer Steven McDonald, the victim of a gunshot which left him confined to a wheelchair, spoke out strongly against terrorism and against the opera which glorifies it.
Christian Zionist, founder and president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations Laurie Cardoza-Moore said that the growing cancer of anti-Semitism was now consuming the Metropolitan Opera. She reminded the crowd that Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf that “all propaganda must be presented in a popular form.” Cardoza-Moore exclaimed that “the Metropolitan Opera has taken a page out of Hitler’s book!”
The protest lasted for hours and more than two dozen speakers shared their personal and organizational objections to the “Death” opera. As Knesset member Nissim Zeev pointed out when it was his turn to speak, “Met,” as in the Metropolitan Opera, means “died” in Hebrew. Was that a prediction or a description of the Met?
Helen Freedman, longtime Zionist advocate and executive director of Americans for a Safe Israel, also spoke to the huge crowd of protesters. She asked, “who is funding this opera?” There is an anonymous funder of the Klinghoffer opera.
The administration of West Chester Hebrew High School, Rambam and Yeshiva Hebrew High School were immediately supportive of having students come to join in the protest. Three speakers from WCHHS and YHHS spoke out eloquently against staging the opera at the Metropolitan Opera.
Dr. Paul Brody of the Coalition to Stop the Terrorist Opera, read a message blasting the opera from Judea Pearl, father of slain Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl HY’D.
More than 400 Rambam and Shalhevet students joined over a thousand demonstrators across from the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center, and on the plaza, on September 22nd, to vigorously protest the production of the pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic opera, “The Death of Klinghoffer.”
Beth Gilinsky, executive director of the National Conference for Jewish Affairs, spoke clearly and forcefully. Her speech crystalized much of what many of the other speakers and sponsors felt. An excerpt from Gilinsky’s talk follows:
I’d like to tell you a true story. Some years ago, I was invited to a party in Manhattan. I was one of only a couple of Americans there, and the rest of the guests were Arab ambassadors and consular officials.
After dinner, a guest decided to tell a joke: “What does P.L.O. stand for?”
The room went quiet. Someone said, “I don’t know, what does P.L.O. stand for?”
The jokester stood up and said, “P.L.O.! Push Leon OVER!”
Loud, cruel laughter filled the room. At first I didn’t understand, and the man next to me, between fits of laughter, explained, “Leon! Leon Klinghoffer, of course! As the laughter continued, I got up and left.
Ladies and Gentlemen: this kind of callous disregard for human suffering and contempt for innocent victims of terrorist violence has sadly mushroomed to the point where, here we are, standing here at Lincoln Center, a place that once represented everything fine and beautiful and uplifting, and now is sullied by having sold its soul in celebration of terrorism.
I ask the following of the Metropolitan Opera Board and management, and of those who are considering attending this artistic abomination called “The Death of Klinghoffer.”
Have you no shame?
Have you no feeling for the Klinghoffer family?
Have you no feeling for the victims of terror in Israel? And the victims of terror across the globe? How about those right here in New York?
Have you no feeling for the Christians now being massacred in small villages in the Middle East?
No feeling for the women and young girls who are being raped and mutilated and beaten, burned, disfigured and sold as slaves? No feeling for the children witnessing public beheadings?
What would it take to make you give up this ill-conceived opera and understand that what you are doing is not art, it is DANGEROUS! What would it take for you to open your eyes an see — a public beheading by ISIS for Metropolitan Opera-goers to witness as they sip their champagne on the balcony?
The gunman who shot Leon Klinghoffer to death confessed that they chose a disabled, paralyzed senior citizen “so that everyone would know that we did not have any pity for anyone.”
And yet, composer John Adams has said that he wants the audience to understand the “humanity” of the terrorists.
The thousands of protesters were informed that if the Metropolitan decides to continue with its ill-advised plan to stage the “Death” Opera, there will be another protest on Oct. 20th, starting at 6:30 p.m., again in front of Lincoln Center Plaza, where the Metropolitan Opera is located. For this opera there will be protesters in 100 wheelchairs.
Speakers at the Sept. 22 rally were, in alphabetical order:
Rabbi Abadie, Rabbi, Edmond J. Safra Synagogue
Rabbi Algaze, Rabbi, Havurat Israel Synagogue, Forest Hills
Richard Allen, JCCWatch.org
Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, Our Soldiers Speak, Veteran and combat reservist in the IDF, founded organization which brings the proud truth of the soldiers to campuses and communities of the English speaking world
Bruce Blakeman, Congressional Candidate for 4th District NY
DRS High School for Boys Student Speaker – Ari Brandspigel, Student Council President
Ben Brafman, Esq., Criminal Defense Attorney known for representing high profile defendants including celebrities, accused mafia figures and political figures
Rabbi Steven Burg, Eastern Director, Simon Wiesenthal Center
Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles Burlingame III, pilot of the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 that was flown into the Pentagon on 9/11, she is the co-founder of Keep America Safe and she is a former flight attendant, lawyer and television producer
Dr. Bill Donahue, Catholic League, Sociologist and Civil Activist
Cong. Eliot Engel (D-NY)
Helen Freedman, AFSI
Rabbi Zev Friedman, Rosh Hamesivta of Rambam Mesivta HS in Lawrence, NY
Beth Gilinsky, executive director of the National Conference of Jewish Affairs
Devorah Halberstam, Ari Halberstam Memorial Fund, son Ari was gunned down on the Brooklyn Bridge by terrorists on March 1, 1994. Ari was 16 years old.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind, Brooklyn’s Assembly District 48
Rabbi Kermaier, Rabbi of 5th Avenue Synagogue
Mort Klein, President, ZOA
Congressional Candidate Grant Lally, Republican, Conservative and Libertarian candidate for NY’s 3rd Distrcit
Wendy Lanski, Board Member, Strength to Strength, 9/11 Survivor who was in the North Tower on the 29th Floor
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President, Emeritus National Council of Young Israel
Tony LoBianco, Actor, Film and Television
Attorney General Michael Mukasey, lawyer, former Judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the US
Laurie Cardoza-Moore, Founder and President, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, Christian Activist & Leader
Consolee Nishimwe, Genocide Survivors Support Network, Survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda – she was 14 years old. Her father and 3 brothers were murdered and she endured physical torture but she survived along with her mother and younger sister. She is a speaker and advocate for victims and wrote a book “Tested To The Limit: A Genocide Survivor’s Story of Pain, Resilience and Hope”
Rabbi Joe Potasnik, Rabbi and Radio Show Host – He currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the NY Board of Rabbis
Governor George Pakati
Rambam Student –
Lauri Regan, Heads NY Chapter of Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET)
Rabbi Schwartz, Congregation Oheb Zedek on the Upper West Side
Sarri Singer, Founder & Director, Strength to Strength, Israel Survivor of terrorist attack bus bombing on June 11, 2003
Charles Asher Small, Koret Scholar, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP)
Rabbi Avi Weiss, AMCHA, Rabbi of HIRR, author, lecturer, teacher and activitst
Westchester Hebrew High School Students – Hannah Cohen and Ben Kahn
MK Nissim Ze’ev
Sponsors of the rally, in alphabetical order were:
Advocates for Israel (AFI)
AMCHA
Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI)
American Friends of Ateret Cohanim/Jerusalem Chai
Americans for Peace and Tolerance
Ari Halberstam Memorial Fund
Catholic League
Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art (COPMA)
Christians’Israel Public Action Campaign (CIPAC)
Congregation Havurat Yisrael
Congregation Ohab Zedek
Congregation Or Chayim
Congregation Or Zarua
Council of Orthodox Jewish Organizations of the West Side
DRS Yeshiva High School for Boys
Edmond J. Safra Synagogue
Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET)
Fifth Avenue Synagogue
Genocide Survivors Support Network (GSSN)
Hasbara Fellowships
Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam (HRCARI)
International Committee for the Land of Israel
Institute for the Study of Global AntiSemitism and Policy (ISGAP)
Israel Forever Foundation
Israel Independence Fund
JCCWatch.org
Jewish Action Alliance
Jewish Political Education Foundation
Jewish War Veterans of the United States
Kings Country Jewish War Veterans
Lincoln Square Synagogue
MERCL
Mothers Against Terrorism
National Conference on Jewish Affairs
One Israel Fund
Our Soldiers Speak
Phyllis Chesler Organization
Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN)
RAJE
Rambam Mesivta High School
Shalhevet High School for Girls
Shomrei Haam
Simon Wiesenthal Center
SKA High School for Girls
StandWithUs
Strength to Strength
The Bridge Project
The International Conference for the Land of Israel
Westchester Hebrew High School
Yiddish Theatrical Alliance
Yiddish Artists & Friends- Actors Club (YAFAC)
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)
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