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Met Opera cancels ‘Klinghoffer’ simulcast

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Opera has canceled plans for a global simulcast to cinemas of John Adams’ “The Death of Klinghoffer” amid objections it could stir anti-Semitic sentiments.

The Live in HD broadcast was planned for Nov. 15.

The opera depicts the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro (ah-KEE’-leh LOW’-roh) cruise ship by the Palestine Liberation Front in which a Jewish New Yorker, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed.

The Met made its decision after discussions with the Anti-Defamation League.

The League praised the Met’s decision, saying while the opera wasn’t anti-Semitic it feared it could create anti-Israeli sentiments in foreign countries.

Adams blasted the decision, saying the opera “in no form condones or promotes violence, terrorism or anti-Semitism.”

The work will be performed at the opera house as planned in the fall.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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