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Published
Last Update November 20, 2015

Rabbi leads vigil outside Met as firestorm over 'The Death of Klinghoffer' hits fever pitch

By | Associated Press
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    FILE - In this Sept. 22, 2014, file photo, protestors attend the arrivals at the Metropolitan Opera 2014-15 Season Opening in New York to register their disapproval of the Met's decision to premiere the controversial opera "The Death of Klinghoffer," later in the season. The opera, about the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and the murder of Jewish passenger Leon Klinghoffer, is expected to attract more protesters when it opens Monday, Oct. 20, 2014. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) (The Associated Press)

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    People, some in wheelchairs, gather at Lincoln Center, with the Metropolitan Opera House in the background, as they protest "Death of Klinghoffer" Monday, Oct 20, 2014, in New York. American composer John Adams' opera has been a lightning rod since February, when it was first scheduled for this season. The first large demonstration came on the Met's Sept. 22 season opening night, featuring a Mozart work, when protesters jeered at arriving spectators. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) (The Associated Press)

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    People, some in wheelchairs, gather at Lincoln Center, with the Metropolitan Opera House in the background, as they protest "Death of Klinghoffer" Monday, Oct 20, 2014, in New York. American composer John Adams' opera has been a lightning rod since February, when it was first scheduled for this season. The first large demonstration came on the Met's Sept. 22 season opening night, featuring a Mozart work, when protesters jeered at arriving spectators. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) (The Associated Press)

NEW YORK – A prominent New York rabbi has led a prayer vigil outside the Metropolitan Opera to protest an opera that opponents say glorifies Palestinian terrorists.

Teenagers from Jewish faith-based schools joined Rabbi Avi Weiss on Monday in a makeshift prayer spot opposite the Met. They discussed Hebrew scriptures in shifts of about a dozen throughout the day.

An evening rally was planned over the Met's premiere of "The Death of Klinghoffer."

Leon Klinghoffer was the 69-year-old New Yorker shot in his wheelchair aboard the Achille Lauro (ah-KEE'-leh LOW'-roh) Italian cruise ship. It was hijacked in 1985 by four men from the Palestinian Liberation Organization who then pushed him into the sea.

Weiss says the music "extols" the terrorists, while the Klinghoffers come off as petty, money-conscious characters.