I've been warning about this for years. There have been two attempted terror attacks in New York City this evening. The first was in Chelsea, on 23rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, around 8:30 pm.
On Tuesday, September 1, a mass rally will be held outside Senator Gillibrand's office at 3rd Avenue and 49th Street in Manhattan to urge Senator Gillibrand to vote against a nuclear Iran.
Those of you in the New York area will be hearing this radio ad a lot over the next couple of weeks.
Let's go to the videotape.
I wonder whether a million New Yorkers could convince her to vote against Obama.
New York police ordered to keep anti-Iran rally from getting 'too big'?
Could the Stop Iran rally in Times Square last Wednesday have been much bigger? Yes, says Merrill W, whom I have known for more than 40 years.
Hi, Carl,
I was at the rally last night, standing at 7th and 42nd, and I can tell
you that it would have been substantially bigger if the police had let
it. The sound system faced to the south down 7th Avenue, and those north
of the speakers were unable to hear. The police insisted on keeping 7th
Avenue between 41st and 42nd open to traffic through the use of metal
barriers, and as a result the sidewalks became too crowded to walk on.
When the street lights changed to permit pedestrians to cross 7th, they
were pulled along by police tape and a police officer yelling at them
through an electronic megaphone to hurry across the street. I also saw
many people between 42nd and 43rd streets on Broadway before the rally
who seemed to be looking for it, and three (!) separate people asked me
if I knew where it is (I have a beard and wear a kippah so they assumed I
might know).
I assume -- without knowing this to be a fact -- that the police were
under orders to suppress crowd size so no dramatic aerial photos could
be taken to show the enormity of the crowd and thereby put more pressure
on Schumer. He was the focus of many of the speeches, at least the
parts that I was able to hear, and of many of the signs held by the
crowd. As one speaker said, Schumer will go down in Jewish history due
to this vote. The question is whether he will be Queen Esther, placed in
this position for just such an occasion as this, or Haman, doing the
bidding of the Persian (Iranian) leadership against the Jewish people,
and the whole world.
You don't think uber-Leftist New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio would order the police to keep a lid on the rally, do you? Just sayin'....
Meanwhile, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent a message on Instagram to the pro-Israel crowd (Hat Tip: Jack W).
As 10,000 demonstrators thronged the Stop Iran Now rally in Times
Square chanting “Where’s Chuck? Kill this deal!” — and top Obama
officials pitched the agreement to lawmakers in DC — Schumer posted an
inane comment and a photo of bagels on Instagram.
“Really missing New York bagels in Washington this week; they’re
simply the best. #bagels #iloveny,” wrote the leading candidate to
replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.
Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, who organized the rally against what he calls
Obama’s “terms of surrender” to Iran, told me, “Good to know our senator
takes some days more seriously than others.”
Horrible: Seven children killed in Sabbath fire in New York
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
I'm actually starting with a story that is not directly connected to Israel because it is connected to Israel. Seven Jewish children were killed late Friday night in a tragic fire in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. I saw the story on Memeorandum and mentioned it to Mrs. Carl, who told me that the family - who used to live in Israel - were friends of friends whom she happened to visit this evening. Please pray for Avigayil bat Tzipora and Tzipora bat Avigayil.
A malfunctioning hot plate ignited a Brooklyn inferno that left seven
children dead, and their mother and another sibling in critical
condition, officials said.
A mother and her eight children — four boys and four girls ranging in
age from 5 to 15 years-old — were in their Midwood home when the fire
began in the kitchen just after midnight Saturday. Flames and deadly
smoke quickly spread to second floor where the youngest kids were
sleeping, authorities said.
A child’s cries of, “Mommy, Mommy, help me!” could be heard outside the blazing two-story brick home, a neighbor told The Post.
The mother, Gayle Sassoon, 45, and her 14-year-old daughter, Tzipara, jumped from second-floor windows to escape the flames.
Sassoon, her hands and feet bloodied, screamed, “My kids are in there, get them out! Get them out!” neighbors said.
The rest of the children were trapped in five upstairs bedrooms in
the rear of the two-story brick home. Sassoon’s husband was away at a
conference, authorities said.
A wall of flame kept the desperate mom from reaching her children,
said FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro, who called the Brooklyn deaths the
largest tragedy of its kind in seven years.
“From the conditions on arrival I would say it was impossible for
them to have gotten out of the room,” he said. “The fire came up the
stairs. The mother would have had to go into the fire to get to the back
bedrooms. I think she valiantly tried, although she was badly burned,
to get out and get help for her children.”
...
Sassoon might have turned on the hot plate before sundown Friday and
left it on to keep food warm, authorities said. Observant Jews avoid
turning on ovens or electrical appliances once Sabbath begins.
Neighbors described the family as “very religious” and “ultra-Orthodox.”
The family lived in a neighborhood near ours from 1988 until last year.
The father is away on business. May God Have mercy.
American Jewry's gutless 'leadership' is afraid to say 'NO' to the 'New Israel Fund'
You thought that the 'New Israel Fund' and its constituent organizations would be banned from the Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City because of their support for BDS (boycott, divest, sanction actions against Israel) and for organizations that hurt Israel. Then you hoped that their claim that 'of course' they would be at the parade would be proven false. Now, Ronn Torossian reports on the behind the scenes pressure being exerted on by the opponents of BDS by American Jewry's gutless 'leadership' to drop their opposition to the 'New Israel Fund' participating.
Since writing an article in the Observer urging the New York Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the UJA-Federation to refuse the New Israel Fund (NIF) participation
to the annual “Celebrate Israel Parade,” I have been inundated with
calls and e-mails from people supporting – and attacking – my position.
So much panic has been caused that Israel’s Former Ambassador Danny Ayalon – who was aware of and supported my position before I wrote of it
– received calls in the last 48 hours from Michael Miller, the head of
the JCRC; Eric Goldstein, President of UJA; and Jerry Levin, UJA’s past
President pressuring him to silence the voices condemning the NIF. They
have a Monday meeting set to discuss this issue.
Clearly, mass concern remains over the parade’s decision on allowing the the participation of the extremist New Israel Fund (NIF), a group that hurts the Jewish State, funds legal efforts that seek to place the rights of the terrorists over victims who were killed while praying in Jerusalem, and has called Israel “racist” and “murderous.”
In response to my op-ed, the JCRC crafted a statement, which reads
“JCRC-NY has for years required that all Parade groups must identify
with Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. This year, JCRC-NY, for
clarification purposes, added a new rule that ‘all groups must oppose,
not fund, nor advocate for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
movement (BDS) against Israel, which seeks to delegitimize the State of
Israel by not recognizing it as a Jewish state.”
However the JCRC will not address the fact that on NIF’s own website
the group clearly supports BDS. Even though the NIF states that it ”
will not fund global BDS activities against Israel” a paragraph later it
apologizes for exactly those activities, stating “NIF will thus not
exclude support for organizations that discourage the purchase of goods
or use of services from settlements.”
...
Instead of owning up to their mistake, the JCRC is digging its heels
in and calling in favors to quiet pressure. Wealthy donors and Jewish
leaders have called on former Israeli Ambassador Danny Ayalon to try and
stop those of us nay-sayers. Ayalon is active against NIF, yet they
have summoned him for a Monday meeting to appeal to his sense of the
“importance of the parade.”
This is not an issue of the right versus the left; it is an issue of the right versus the wrong.
In private appeals, the most senior executives from these Jewish
organizations, whom I know and like personally, talk about their
families in Israel, their love for Israel, and of course, how long and
hard they have worked for the Jewish people. They had a prominent JCRC
board member and professional colleague ask me to stop writing. While
many of these people tell me privately they abhor NIF, they will not
speak out publicly.
The Talmud says that every generation gets the leadership that it deserves - for better or for worse. Clearly, we have some soul-searching to do about why we have merited such gutless 'Jewish leaders.'
However, it isn’t so clear that the New Israel
Fund’s application will be rejected, based on the JCRC document
defining the delegitimization of Israel.
“Regarding Israel, delegitimization includes
questioning the validity of Israel’s founding, demonizing Israel and
equating its policies with Nazism, apartheid and racist ideologies,
holding Israel to double standards, and promoting a one-state solution
(Israel’s demographic dissolution),” reads the document.
According to another Israeli watchdog, NGO Monitor,
the New Israel Fund is indeed guilty of funding organizations
that delegitimize Israel by approaching international human rights
organizations to investigate the Jewish state for alleged crimes against
humanity.
But the JCRC document leaves room for interpretation there as well, in
discussing the differences between criticism and delegitimization:
“Criticism is a natural function of any democracy. Its purpose is to
strengthen democracy by questioning leaders and holding them accountable
for their actions. In contrast, the purpose of delegitimization is to
destroy a country.”
...
The New Israel Fund, for its part, said that of course it would be marching in the Celebrate Israel Parade this year.
“Im Tirtzu is, as usual, wrong. NIF looks
forward to joining the parade this year since none of the guidelines
excludes us. Although we and our partners sometimes strongly criticize
Israeli government policy, no one except hard-right extremists thinks
that equals delegitimization,” said Naomi Paiss, the spokeswoman for the
New Israel Fund.
Paiss said that NIF principles state Israel is
the Jewish homeland and that the parade BDS policy “exactly mirrors
that of NIF — we too will not fund any organization participating in the
global BDS movement,” she said.
Making matters worse, for 'security reasons,' the parade organizers will not confirm participants until a week before the parade. In other words, they make the guidelines, they interpret them, and there will be no chance of appeal.
Must see video: New York City Councilman blasts pro-'Palestinian' 'activists'
New York City Councilman David G. Greenfield makes remarks on the floor
of the council moments after Pro-Palestine activists protested the
commemoration of 1.1 million people killed in Auschwitz. Greenfield is
the grandson of holocaust survivors.
For several months, anti-Israel activists have attached themselves to
the racial-grievance and anarchist-extreme leftist protests in an
attempt to redirect anger toward Israel.
In the earliest days after the killing of Brown on Aug. 9, violent
protests erupted in Ferguson, with protesters clashing with police.
Anti-Israel activists immediately spotted an opportunity, and
organized a Twitter campaign, whereby Palestinians expressed solidarity
by tweeting advice for how Ferguson protesters could cope with tear gas.
Under the Twitter hashtag #Palestine2Ferguson, anti-Israel activists
spread images equating Palestinian and Ferguson protesters — for
example, comparing a Palestinian throwing a rock and a Ferguson
protester throwing a Molotov cocktail.
False claims were spread on anti-Israel Web sites, Facebook and
Twitter that Israel had “trained” the Ferguson police, including in
crowd-control tactics. Dozens of anti-Israel activists and groups issued
a solidarity call:
“We understand the impulse to rebel against the infrastructure of a
racist capitalist system that systematically pushes you to the margins
of humanity . . . With a Black Power fist in the air, we salute the
people of Ferguson and join in your demands for justice.”
...
Last Saturday, Ismaaiyl Brinsley executed NYPD Officers Wenjian Liu and
Rafael Ramos. Brinsley’s final Instagram note referenced Brown and
Garner, and ended with the phrase from Ferguson that was spread by the
anti-Israel crowd: “I’m Putting Pigs In A Blanket.”
Next week will mark the 50th anniversary of the 'Palestine Liberation Organization.' Amidst all the 'celebrations' of 'putting the Palestinian cause on the map,' those of us who still care about civilization ought to remember that it was the 'Palestinians' who introduced terror as a political tool to the world. It's definitely not something laudatory.
As you can see from the picture, there was a pretty substantial protest on Monday night outside the opening of the Metropolitan Opera's production of The Death of Leon Klinghoffer. Walter Russell Mead is far more knowledgeable about opera than I will ever be. I don't want to focus on his artistic review of the production, but rather on his comments on the demonstration outside and on the question of whether the opera itself should ever have been staged. Here's what he says about the demonstrators.
Not everybody in New York shared my opinion; protestors blocked the
street in front of Lincoln Center and we had to pass through police
lines and barricades to get to the show. The lines at the entrance
stretched far out into the plaza as the ushers conducted unusually
thorough searches of bags at the door. With protestors shouting “Shame!
Shame!” and speakers addressing the crowd in heavily miked voices, it
was easily the most dramatic moment I’ve ever seen at a New York arts
venue.
The excitement continued inside; some of the people opposed to the
performance had tickets, and dozens stood to boo or cry out slogans like
“Klinghoffer’s murderers will never be forgiven!” at various points
during the performance. For history of opera aficionados, it was like a
revival of the nineteenth century drama in European opera houses as
rival factions of fans cheered or booed politically or musically
controversial works.
Mead also has some on-point comments about the production itself.
The real problem, and it is a serious one, involves the decision by
John Adams and Alice Goodman to use a family’s tragedy for their art
without the permission of the family’s members. Leon Klinghoffer was not
a public figure; nothing gave Adams and Goodman a moral right to profit
from his death or to use it for political or artistic purposes of their
own without the permission of his loved ones. The opera not only shows
the death of Lisa’s and Ilsa’s father, putting words in his mouth, it
presents a fictionalized portrait of their mother’s shock and reaction
on hearing the news.
No family not already in public life deserves to have their most
intimate and painful moments taken over and made into a public spectacle
against their will. You couldn’t take liberties with Mickey and Minnie
Mouse without having Disney lawyers come at you with cease and desist
orders; Leon Klinghoffer’s family deserves more consideration than a
fictional rodent and without in any way seeking to curtail free speech,
one can regret the decision of two famous and well established artists
to turn someone else’s private grief into a public entertainment.
If I were Peter Gelb, I would have declined to put the opera on, but
not on political grounds. I would not have wanted to associate myself
with what amounts to psychological rape, and I would not have staged it
against the wishes of the murdered man’s family. Dehumanizing Leon
Klinghoffer, turning him from a human being into a symbol in their
political theater, is what the terrorists did on the Achille Lauro; John
Adams and Alice Goodman echo this violation by trampling on the
family’s privacy and wishes, stripping the Klinghoffers of their rights
and dignity and using them as props. There were other ways to write an
opera about the tragic conflict between the Palestinian and Jewish
national movements.
Yet, in death, Leon Klinghoffer became a public figure, an innocent but
defiant hero, lost to what still seems like a never-ending conflict in
the Middle East.
No, he didn't. He never made that choice in life, and his family - who were the only ones who could have done so - never made that choice for him in death.
Some of you might question why one of the labels I put on this post is "anti-Semitism." Please consider this Facebook comment from Steven Plaut:
Friends
I need your help. I have written a new Opera and I need you to help
demand that the Metropolitan Opera in New York stage it. It is an opera
about the lynching of black people in Alabama and Mississippi by the Ku
Klux Klan. The opera presents the
moral ambiguity of the struggle for self-determination of the Klan
members against the harsh and cruel behavior of the pickaninnies. The
opera is careful not to pick sides and it presents both sides with
musical delight. After the Klansters lynch the darkies, they take off
their hoods and paint themselves as minstrel singers to show their
common humanity with the dead. I am sure you agree that this is a must
performance that the Metropolitan Opera needs to stage! Write the Opera
chairman today!
We all know that hell will freeze over before the opera suggested by Plaut is staged, don't we?
Thousands expected to protest 'Death of Klinghoffer'
In a bit more than an hour, thousands of people are expected outside New York's Lincoln Center to protest the premiere of 'Death of Klinghoffer' by the Metropolitan Opera.
The Lincoln Square Business Improvement District sent an email last
Friday, alerting area businesses and residents about the protests:
We
have been informed by the New York City Police Department that there
will be a protest on Monday, October 20, 2014, between the hours of
4:00pm and 8:00pm in and around Dante Park (across from Lincoln Center
between 63rd and 64th Street), in connection with The Metropolitan
Opera's Opening Night Performance of The Death of Klinghoffer. It is our
understanding that the NYPD expects 3,000-4,000 people to attend, with
protesters gathering at approximately 2:00pm. The parking lane alongside
Dante Park on Columbus Avenue between 63rd and 64th Street will be
cordoned off with police barricades, which may be moved further west to
close traffic lanes if necessary. It is also our understanding that
there will be a platform set up in the parking lane near West 63rd
Street.
The majority of the demonstrators will be in Dante Park; however, there
will be approximately 40-50 additional demonstrators in front of Lincoln
Center's Josie Robertson Plaza. Expect to see "No Parking" signs
around the perimeter of Dante Park on Monday, October 20 and, depending
on the turnout, there may be temporary lane/crosswalk closures in and
around the Dante Park area. The NYPD will maintain a presence
throughout the event. We will also have our public safety officers
present.
On Monday, the Anti-Defamation League issued a statement by Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer, the daughters of Leon Klinghoffer HY"D (May God Avenge his blood). The statement also appears in the Metropolitan Opera's Playbill program that is being distributed at the Opera, a measure of how much impact the protests have had.
Twenty nine years
ago, our 69 year old, wheel chair-bound father, Leon Klinghoffer, was
shot in the head by Palestinian hijackers on the Achille Lauro cruise
ship. The terrorists threw his body, along with his wheelchair,
overboard into the Mediterranean. A few days later, his body washed up
on the Syrian shore.
Tonight, as you watch The Death of Klinghoffer, a baritone will play the role of Leon Klinghoffer, and sing The Aria of the Falling Body
as he artfully falls into the sea. Competing choruses will highlight
Jewish and Palestinian narratives of suffering and oppression,
selectively presenting the complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The terrorists, portrayed by four distinguished opera singers, will be
given a back story, an "explanation" for their brutal act of terror and
violence.
We are strong
supporters of the arts, and believe that theater and music 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. It rationalizes, romanticizes and
legitimizes the terrorist murder of our father. Our family was not
consulted by the composer and librettist and had no role in the
development of the opera.
Our father was one
of the first American victims of Middle Eastern terrorism. Nearly three
decades later, after PanAm 103, 9/11, and countless other attacks and
threats, Americans live under the deadly threat of terrorism each and
every day.
For our family,
the impact of terrorism is obviously deeply personal. We lost our father
because of the violent political agenda of these terrorists. The trauma
of his murder never goes away. Our father was caring, creative,
thoughtful and smart. As a young man, he invented the rotisserie oven,
the first of its kind. After his stroke, our father continued to use his
one good arm to repair anything that needed fixing. With the help of
our mother, he never allowed his disability to limit his enjoyment of
good times with his family and friends, who meant everything to him. He
loved life and lived it to the fullest. He was an inspiration to us. It
is particularly sad that the life of such a vibrant and gentle man could
end suddenly in such a hate-filled and violent manner.
Our father is also
a universal symbol of the threat terrorism poses to our societies, our
values and our lives. Indeed, we have dedicated our lives since this
tragedy to educating about terrorism, and putting a personal face on the
victims and their families.
Terrorism cannot
be rationalized. It cannot be understood. It can never be tolerated as a
vehicle for political expression or grievance. Unfortunately, The Death of Klinghoffer does all this, and sullies the memory of a fine, principled, sweet man in the process.
In June, following
series of conversations between Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National
Director, representing the wishes of the Klinghoffer family, and Peter
Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, the Met announced that
it would cancel a global simulcast of the controversial John Adams opera
in response to concerns that the opera’s biased portrayal of events
surrounding the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro could foment
anti-Semitism globally or legitimize terrorism. At that time, Mr.
Foxman said: "Obviously from our point of view and from that of the
Klinghoffer sisters, we would have hoped that the Metropolitan Opera
would have stayed away from mounting such a problematic opera," Mr.
Foxman said. "We certainly did not want to see the Met production
simulcast into theaters around the world. The Met was very open to
hearing our concerns. After listening to our views, they have agreed to
cancel the simulcasts and to take steps to ensure that the Klinghoffer
family’s perspective is clearly heard by opera patrons."
Even Metropolitan Opera director Peter Gelb understands that the public is furious over the eight performances that are to begin tonight in Lincoln Center.
In anticipation of the rally, there will be a
“heavy police presence” at Monday night’s opening, the New York Post
reported, citing police sources.
“It’s been a steady diet of e-mails, phone
calls and letters for a couple of months now,” Met director Peter Gelb
told the Sunday Times. “The people who don’t want this opera to be
performed are not silly; they are very angry.”
The Jewish organizations will host a press
conference at 5 p.m. ahead of the protest. Rabbi Avi Weiss and other
rabbinical leaders are set to host a vigil outside Lincoln Center in
memory of Klinghoffer ahead of the protest.
The rally is organized by some 50 Jewish and
Catholic groups, including the Zionist Organization of America, One
Israel Fund, One Family Fund, Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Catholic
League. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani reportedly will be the
keynote speaker at the event.
I hope that Gelb has trouble sleeping at night, and that the Met loses enough money on this fiasco to force it to close. Arrogant _ _ _ _ _ _ _ s.
It figures: Klinghoffer creator a (former) Jewish anti-Semite
Alice Goodman - the creator of the terror-glorifying opera 'Death of Klinghoffer' - is a former Jew turned Anglican Priest (Hat Tip: Dan F). Going back to the prophet Isaiah, we have been warned that those who would destroy us will spring forth from among us. A quick review of Goodman's recent Twitter entries shows a visceral hatred for Jews, and for Israel and those who support it. Here are some examples.
JCC Watch exists to make sure Jewish communal organisations support the government of the State of Israel by vilifying those that don't.
— Alice Goodman (@AliceGoodman17) October 18, 2014
The protests against The Death of Klinghoffer are a part of the agonized argument about Israel within the American Jewish community.
— Alice Goodman (@AliceGoodman17) October 18, 2014
Not really. In fact, most American Jews support a 'two-state solution.' If the protest were taking place in Israel, Goodman might have a point. Unless, of course, she supports the extirpation of Israel's existence (maybe she does).
They have nothing to do with the opera, nor Mr Klinghoffer's death. They're all about toeing the line and gagging dissentient voices.
— Alice Goodman (@AliceGoodman17) October 18, 2014
It's apparently inconceivable to Ms. Goodman that anyone could feel revulsion at the use of dead Jews as 'art,' and at the glorification of terrorism that her 'opera' aims to accomplish.
It should also be clear to all of you that Ms.Goodman's motivations have nothing to do with art and everything to do with hatred of Jews and Israel. There is indeed no anti-Semite like a Jewish anti-Semite.
For those who can make it this evening to protest in New York:
One of the best letters to the editor you will ever see was written to the New York Times in response to its editorial in favor of 'The Death of Klinghoffer.' It was written by Judea Pearl, the father of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl HY"D (May God Avenge his blood).
In
joining protesters of the New York Metropolitan Opera’s production of
“The Death of Klinghoffer,” I echo the silenced voice of our son, Daniel
Pearl, and the silenced voices of other victims of terror who were
murdered, maimed or left heartbroken by the new menace of our
generation, a savagery that the Met has decided to elevate to a
normative, two-sided status worthy of artistic expression.
We are told that the composer tried to understand the hijackers, their motivations and their grievances.
I
submit that there has never been a crime in human history lacking
grievance and motivation. The 9/11 lunatics had profound motivations,
and the murderers of our son, Daniel Pearl, had very compelling
“grievances.”
In
the last few weeks we have seen with our own eyes that Hamas and the
Islamic State have grievances, too. There is nothing more enticing to a
would-be terrorist than the prospect of broadcasting his “grievances” in
Lincoln Center, the icon of American culture.
Yet
civilized society has learned to protect itself by codifying right from
wrong, separating the holy from the profane, distinguishing that which
deserves the sound of orchestras from that which commands our
unconditional revulsion. The Met has trashed this distinction and thus
betrayed its contract with society.
Thousands protest terror glorifying 'Death of Leon Klinghoffer'
It was rather crowded outside Lincoln Center late Monday afternoon. While yours truly was at Kennedy Airport waiting to return to Israel for Rosh HaShanna, several thousand people gathered outside Lincoln Center to protest the Metropolitan Opera's glorification of a terror attack that took place nearly 30 years ago.
There's an extensive report with over an hour and a half of video and many pictures and slides here, and I urge you all to check it out. But I want to share one quote with you that really caught me eye.
And finally, from writer, Jack Kemp:
“One of the lines in this anti-semitic opera is: “wherever poor people are gathered they can find Jews getting fat. America is one big Jew.” So who is this “exploiter Jew,” the one that Peter Gelb,
the director of the Metropolitan Opera and himself a Jew whose father
was a New York Times Managing Editor, allows to be denigrated on his
stage?
.
Leon Klinghoffer was born a poor Jew from the Lower East Side, a man who
invented an electric mini-grill you could also wash in your sink, an
early predecessor of the current George Forman Grill. I recall one of
these mini-grills in my home as a child in the 1950s. From this, Mr. Klinghoffer was able to create jobs for a number of people in manufacturing and sales and to support his family.
“John
Adams can work his clunky, chunky music to his heart’s content. And so I
suppose can Alice Goodman work her poetry. Ms. Goodman was born a Jew.
She is now an Anglican priest, serving the Church of England, first as
chaplain at Trinity College, Cambridge, latterly at a group of parishes
near the university. The truth is that it is not Mr. Adams’ music that
is at the core of the controversy. It is Ms. Goodman’s words. She is no
free spirit in this church, which has been fighting with the Jewish
nation and the British Jewish community for decades. “
This
so-called opera is actually a sophisticated attack by wealthy,
cosmopolitan Jews on a self-made New York Jew with limited education who
had the audacity to make something of his life.”
Leon Klinghoffer had more integrity and American entrepreneurial spirit in his little finger than Peter Gelb has produced in his entire miserable life. And that's the truth.
Metropolitan Opera sinks to new low in terror glorification
The New York Metropolitan Opera has sunk to a new low. The poster above is how they're promoting their new opera Death of Klinghoffer, which celebrates the 1985 murder of a wheelchair-bound Jew by 'Palestinian' terrorists aboard the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.
The Metropolitan Opera has sunk to a new low in its
glorification of the Palestinian terrorist murder of wheelchair-bound
Leon Klinghoffer, on the Achille Lauro in 1995, say outraged Jewish groups. In its promotional materials, including a video on its official website,
the Metropolitan Opera features a Palestinian terrorist pointing a gun
at the back of a wheel-chair bound Klinghoffer, when he is about to
murder him.
“The Met Opera is clearly trying to sell
tickets off of an evil Palestinian terrorist who is in the process of
murdering a crippled Jew in the back in cold-blood” said Mark Langfan,
President of Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI). The group, headed by
Langfan and Helen Freedman, is spearheading an unprecedented coalition
of over 60 Jewish and non-Jewish organizations for the demonstration
planned for this coming Monday, September 22, at 4:30 pm in front
Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center Plaza at Broadway and 65th
Street.
Langfan said that the Met Opera’s clear
organizational message is that “killing a Jew is not just a good thing,
but it’s ‘Art.’ The Met Opera, and all its board of directors are
actively promoting Jew-murder in its ugliest form. It’s rank, pure
Jew-hate, anti-Semitism in its most vile form.”
For those of you who have forgotten what happened to Leon Klinghoffer HY"D (May God Avenge his blood)....
In 1985, Klinghoffer, then 69, retired and in a wheelchair, was on a cruise on the Achille Lauro along with his wife Marilyn (née Windwehr), to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary. On October 7, 1985, four hijackers from the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) took control of the liner off Egypt as it was sailing from Alexandria to Port Said, Egypt. Holding the passengers and crew hostage, they ordered the captain to sail to Tartus, Syria, and demanded the release of 50 Palestinians then in Israeli prisons, including the Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar.
The next day, after being refused permission by the Syrian government to dock at Tartus, the hijackers singled out Klinghoffer, a Jew, for murder, shooting him in the forehead and chest as he sat in his wheelchair. They then forced the ship's barber and a waiter to throw his body and wheelchair overboard. Marilyn Klinghoffer, who did not witness the shooting, was told by the hijackers that he had been moved to the infirmary. She only learned the truth after the hijackers left the ship at Port Said. PLO Foreign Secretary Farouq Qaddumi said that perhaps the terminally ill Marilyn Klinghoffer had killed her husband for insurance money.[4] However, the PLO later accepted full responsibility for murdering Mr. Klinghoffer.[5]
Initially, the hijackers were granted safe passage to Tunisia, but U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered a U.S. fighter plane to force the get-away plane to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. After an extradition dispute, Italian authorities arrested and later tried the Palestinian terrorists, but let Abu Abbas fly to Yugoslavia.
Klinghoffer's body was found by the Syrians on October 14–15, and it was returned to the United States around October 20. His funeral, with 800 in attendance, was held at Temple Shaaray Tefila in New York City.[6] Leon Klinghoffer was buried at Beth David Memorial Park in Kenilworth, New Jersey. Four months after her husband's murder, Marilyn Klinghoffer (October 5, 1926 – February 9, 1986) died of colon cancer, aged 59. The Klinghoffers are survived by two daughters, Ilsa and Lisa Klinghoffer.
By the way, the Met isn't the first group to try to make an opera out of Klinghoffer's murder.
American composer John Adams' second opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, based on the events of 1985, opened to great controversy in 1991. The concept for the opera was suggested by director Peter Sellars and it featured a libretto by Alice Goodman. The Los Angeles Opera shared in the work's commission but never presented it, after the work was criticized by some as overly sympathetic to the terrorists. A Prix Italia-winning television version of the opera, starring Sanford Sylvan and Christopher Maltman, and directed by Penny Woolcock, was screened by United Kingdom's Channel 4 in 2003.
I hope that the Met goes out of business over this. And I hope that those of you in the New York area show up to demonstrate against it on Monday. Despicable....
After a lengthy heated debate on Friday evening, that included
additional time for both sides to present the arguments, a motion was
eventually passed to table the resolution for a future date.
Despite
the vote's difficult timing for observant Jews, a number of pro-Israel
groups also turned out to support CUNY students and faculty who opposed
the resolution.
“It is a routine tactic of the BDS movement to
hold votes on or around Jewish holidays in order to shut out pro-Israel
voices,” Jacob Baime, Executive Director of the Israel on Campus
Coalition – who attended the Friday evening vote – told JNS.org. “When the facts are known, BDS fails.”
The
proposed resolution, which is titled “The Endorsement of Boycott of
Israeli Academic Institutions”, called on the CUNY system to endorse a
“boycott of Israeli academic institutions and the divestment from
Israeli companies” as well as ending academic partnerships with Israeli
institutions such as the one between Baruch College and Israel’s College
of Management and Academic Studies.
The resolution also expresses
support for “Palestinian students and academics in their struggle
against the Zionist policies of the Israeli state and its restrictions.”
Baime added that he is proud of the CUNY students and faculty for their strong showing despite having little time to prepare.
We're not out of the woods on this one yet. But it's promising.
How could a vote to boycott Israel pass at the City University of New York?
How could a vote to boycott Israel pass at the City University of New York? By voting on the Sabbath, of course.
Pro-Israel student activists and others accuse CUNY’s Doctoral Students’ Council (DSC)
of intentionally trying to silence opposition to the measure by holding
the vote at a day and time not amenable to many who would speak out
against the divestment resolution.
The vote was quietly publicized
earlier this week only among its supporters, spurring accusations that
the DSC is attempting to ram through the divestment measure without
input from pro-Israel voices, according to sources who were only made
aware of the situation after an internal DSC email about the vote was
leaked.
The DSC, a student body group that claims to represent popular
opinion, first informed its members of the upcoming vote last Friday,
Sept. 5, according to a copy of the email message obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Dominique Nisperos, the DSC’s co-chair for communications, informed
members that no materials about the resolution would be handed out, a
decision that has raised concerns among critics.
“In the interest of being environmentally friendly, we will not
provide printed copies of the attached documents at the meeting,” the
email said, urging members to “solicit input” from other students about
the resolution. “Please arrange to have electronic or paper copies of
these materials for your reference at the meeting.”
This is the second time that the DSC will put forth a divestment
resolution, which is part of a larger campaign by anti-Israel activists
on campus to further the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
movement, which seeks to wage an economic and cultural war on the Jewish
state. DSC attempted to pass such a resolution in May.
The DSC resolution seeks to enact a boycott of Israeli universities and companies, according to a copy of the measure obtained by the Free Beacon. Critics call the move an insult to free speech and an attempt to discriminate against Israel.
“They have not been particularly forthcoming about it,” said one
student who requested anonymity due to the heightened tensions
surrounding such votes on campus. “They haven’t made much of an effort
to tell the students what they’re doing.”
The date and time of the vote also “suggests they’re basically
hijacking a false mandate that they claim to have of representing the
students, and unfortunately there’s nobody countering it,” the student
said. “The fact it’s going to be this Friday night, and so little time
to give people warning of this meeting, makes it difficult for many to
come, particularly because of Shabbat. Friday night is not a popular
time for being on campus.”
CUNY is not the first university where this kind of foilershtick has been tried either.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
