The Mark Chagall murals and crystal chandeliers hanging in the Metropolitan Opera were visible from the barricades on Columbus Avenue and 65th Street, where hundreds of protesters gathered yesterday to denounce the season premiere of John Adams’ controversial opera, The Death of Klinghoffer. The protest drew a varied crowd, ranging from young children accompanied by their families, to college students, to the elderly. Some had arrived as early as noon.

Signs that read “Cancel racist opera, insult to arts” and “Gelb, are you taking terror $$$” were held high during the demonstration. Long after the start of the premiere, cries of “shame, shame, shame”—often led by some of the guest speakers—boomed across Lincoln Center. Notable attendees included former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Congressman Peter King, who both addressed the crowd. “If you listen,” said Giuliani, “you will see that the emotional context of the opera truly romanticizes the terrorists.”

The Death of Klinghoffer, with music by John Adams and a libretto by Alice Goodman, has incited fury since the Met decided added it to its performance schedule in February. The opera is based on the assassination of Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound American Jew who was shot and thrown overboard an Italian cruise ship by PLF terrorists in 1985.

Reactions to the opera tend to fall into two opposing camps: those who defend free speech and ‘art for art’s sake,’ and those who claim that the libretto perpetuates anti-Semitism and glorifies terrorists. Most of the people interviewed had not seen the opera or read the entire libretto.

“It’s a chance for us to physically voice our opinions and show our unhappiness—and disappointment—with the Metropolitan opera,” said 19-year-old Rosie Lenoff, who studies psychology at Stern College. “They are saying it’s freedom of expression, freedom of speech, but if it [the opera] was about any other group of people, they wouldn’t be able to get away with it.”

Approximately thirty students aged 14-17 from Rambam Mesivta, located in Lawrence, N.Y., arrived at the rally on a private bus. Students from the school had attended the September 22nd rally as well. “The Met is putting on an opera that they call art, but it’s really glorifying terrorism,” said senior Gabe Motechin, who helped to organize the delegation.

“The problem is that in this historical event there was no conflict—it was a one-sided thing,” said 14-year-old Gidon Kaminer, a student the Heschel School in Manhattan, who was with a group that included his mother and a friend. “A man was shot in the head for no reason and pushed off a boat, so that wouldn’t make for a very interesting opera. In order to create this interesting opera, they have to draw a parallel—they have to create a conflict—they have to humanize them [the terrorists].”

Klinghoffer’s daughters, Lisa and Ilsa, aided by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), requested that the opera not be simulcast or broadcast on the radio as was previously planned. In a statement which will be included in the Met’s playbills, they wrote: “It presents false moral equivalencies without context and offers no real insight into the historical reality and the senseless murder of an American Jew. It rationalizes, romanticizes, and legitimizes the terrorist murder of our father.”

While Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, has defended the inclusion of the opera in this year’s concert schedule, he yielded to the joint request of the Klinghoffer family and the ADL.

Hyman Silverglad, an attorney and resident of the Lower East Side, says he knew the Klinghoffers long before the controversy. He denounced the opera for “stimulating anti-Semitism throughout the world,” and took great offense at the argument that censorship is a violation of first amendment rights. He was pleased to see a young presence at the demonstration. He said “it was a sight for sore eyes to finally see young Jewish people taking part in these issues,” many of whom, have “turned off” Jewish affairs due to assimilation.

The Death of Klinghoffer premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1991, only six years after the events that it depicts. Many, including former New York Governor George Pataki, have blasted the title alone, which critics say undermines and trivializes Klinghoffer’s brutal murder. O­peras give dramatic weight to both the protagonists and antagonists, a compositional technique employed by canonical composers like Mozart and Verdi, and The Death of Klinghoffer is no exception. Protesters say they are not enraged over the fact that the terrorists have arias, but rather that they sing lyrics many regard as anti-Semitic. (For example, “whenever poor men are gathered they can find Jews getting fat.”)

Siblings Sam and Shayna Schochet, aged 24 and 19 respectively, took issue with the how the opera frames the politics of Klinghoffer’s murder, arguing that it portrays the hijackers as “freedom fighters.”

“From my own estimation, I conclude that they are sympathizing with the Palestinian terrorists,” said Sam.

Shana added, “they’re humanizing the terrorist… At the end of the day, [Klinghoffer] was a helpless Jewish man who went on a cruise with his wife. He was killed. That’s not [the actions of] a freedom fighter; that’s a terrorist.”

(Image: A protester holds up a sign outside the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center on opening night of the opera, ‘The Death of Klinghoffer’ on October 20. Credit: Bryan Thomas/Getty)

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On July 24 in New York City, adults, teenagers, and children participated in an “art vigil” organized by the not-for-profit Israel advocacy organization, Artists 4 Israel.

Just north of Washington Square Park, one group of participants created drawings with oil crayons and reflected on a vigil, consisting of art and electric candles, set up to honor those suffering on both sides of the conflict. Across the street, beneath the Washington Square arch, dozens of men and women—many with Israeli flags draped across their shoulders—held hands and danced as they sang “Am Yisrael Chai.” Interspersed were participants holding signs that read “Free Palestine is Code for Kill the Jews,” and “Hamas Ruins the Lives of Innocent Children.”

These juxtaposing responses to the Gaza conflict—one group focusing on solidarity and politics, the other more meditative—reflect the range in attitudes of American Jews towards the current conflagration. (In fact, The Times of Israel reports that the art vigil combined with a “concurrent” but seemingly unrelated pro-Israel demonstration.) But between these factions was there was a common thread of feeling: support for Israel, and a desire to see Hamas’s terror capabilities extinguished.

Participants at the event expressed concern at the rising fatalities—now at 1,650 Palestinian civilian deaths, 63 Israeli military deaths, and three Israeli civilian deaths—and appreciated the ability to have a place to create, pray, and express support for Israel.

Artists 4 Israel was formed in 2009 during Operation Cast Lead, in response to the growing number of international artists boycotting Israel and refusing to perform in the country. Its aim is to refute “misconceptions that the arts community does not support Israel” as well as “beautify the landscape and strengthen the spirit of the people of Israel and the Middle East.”

“This is a first of a kind art vigil and the idea is paint and prayer—whichever people connect with and it’s in support of Israel,” said Lance Laytner, public relations officer for Artists 4 Israel. “The hope of the art exhibit is it does something that only art can do.”

Ariel Maron, who is raising funds through an Indiegogo campaign to purchase equipment for soldiers in the IDF, said he had come to “cheer on Israel, show support for all the Jews in Israel, and promote other countries to do the same.”

“It’s unfortunate what’s happening in Europe, in Turkey, and Paris with the burning of the synagogues and hopefully we’ll have more non-violent rallies,” he continued. “We love Muslims, we love Arabs; we don’t like terror.”

Several vigil participants expressed concern about the fact that Hamas is using children as human shields.

“I think people need to understand and know that there is terrorism going on right now in the Middle East. What I’m the most upset about—as is my organization—is that children are being used as human shields by Hamas,” said Hillary Markowitz of Mothers Against Terrorism. “Hamas is telling people, ‘put your children here’.”

The exhibit also featured a Bomb Shelter Museum, a structure constructed with the same dimensions and thickness as the shelters used in Sderot, Israel. Inside the shelter, a screen played footage of families running from rockets fired by Hamas.

On July 22, Artists 4 Israel set up the Bomb Shelter Museum in the Upper Senate Park, near the capital building in Washington, D.C., inviting President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, and all congress members. But achieving the turnout they desired was described as “a challenge” in their press release.

“There has been a lot of advice from U.S. officials and even some unexpectedly snide comments—from Secretary Kerry in particular—about how Israel should handle the current crisis,” said Artists 4 Israel Executive Director Craig Dershowitz in a statement about the Washington exhibit. “But those same officials have never had to experience grabbing their children and running for their lives. They say you cannot understand a person’s decisions until you have walked a mile in their shoes. We’re not asking a mile, just as many steps as you can take in 15 seconds.”

Pastors, rabbis, and an imam from the NYU Islamic Center, Khalid Latiff, were invited to participate in the Washington Square Park vigil. Imam Latiff lent his support, but was unable to attend because it was the last night of Ramadan. Pastor Dan Quagliata of The Bridge Church and Rabbi Scott Matous of the New Synagogue both attended, and jointly led a prayer session at the end of the event. “We’re for peace in Israel. We’re for peace in the Middle East. We’re for peace in all the communities—and to try to show from a faith-based perspective that everybody’s welcome,” said Rabbi Matous.

Elisa, a 19-year-old woman whose brother is a lone soldier in the Israeli Defense Force and who is getting ready to make Aliyah herself, drew the emblem of the IDF inside the star of David. Her mother drew two small caricatures to represent an Israeli soldier helping a Palestinian child. “A lot of people find peace, find love with connecting with other human beings, and art is a form to do that in,” said Elisa.

As part of the outreach aims of the organization, the drawings made at the event will be distributed to bomb shelters located in schools and daycare centers throughout Israel.

Yvonne Marie Juris is a second year student in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. She writes about religion and the arts. Follow her on Twitter at @fancifemini.

(Image: Seth Wolfson, Artists 4 Israel)

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