Over a Thousand Protest the Met’s Obscene Opera
As The Metropolitan Opera opened its season on Monday, September 22, over a thousand people gathered at Lincoln Center to protest the company’s upcoming production of “The Death of Klinghoffer,” an opera that romanticizes terrorists and maligns Jews in the guise of “art.” CAMERA first made this a national issue and did not let up on The Met, even after the planned international simulcasts were canceled. Now the protests are keeping the heat on the company.
Numerous distinguished speakers addressed the crowd including former New York Governor George Pataki, former U.S. Attorney General Judge Michael Mukasey and New York Congressman Eliot Engel. Survivors of terrorism and family members of victims spoke movingly before the gathering. People of all ages and religions stood together to voice their disgust that an institution as prestigious as The Met would lend credibility to bigotry and “humanize” vicious murderers. And do not forget that The Met gets taxpayer funding to do it!
There was media coverage of the event, with The Wall Street Journal accurately reporting that “more than a thousand people protested.” It is not surprising that The New York Times downplayed the protest turnout, saying that only “several hundred” participated. Of course, The Times had bemoaned the cancellation of the simulcasts in an editorial earlier in the year and recently endorsed the antisemitic production itself.
Several times during the course of the protest, the police had to move the barriers and expand further into the street to accommodate the crowd. The pictures speak for themselves.
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