it seems that peter gelb would not have done an opera of the same sort about the death of martin luthering, making a debating topic, should he have been killed? or the death of john kennedy, making a debating topic, should he have been killed? take one of those, or the people who died on 9/11. the idea of a beautiful aria sung on the killer's side seems to me morally unacceptable. he can do it, but i find it very troubling that he did. >> i think this is a very sensitive meditation on violence and hatred. i saw the opera back in 1991. my understanding is floyd has not seen the offer himself. >> i have seen a video of the opera. >> seeing a video and reading the libretto is not an opera. the difference between what i saw in 1991 and what i saw this week is extraordinarily significant. floyd misstates the story. the captain is a pivotal character, and to say, to characterize the opera without having seen the opera, this was done years ago by other countries. so to evoke that here is unseemly. to captain is portrayed as a he's-seeking figure. klinghoffer is perceived as a man who was murde

and peter gelb has every right as he chooses to put this on. i find it disturbing. i find it sort of morally obtuse, though, that they would choose to do so. this is really a work, perhaps even a fine work, but a work which nonetheless is about the death of a real pan, the murder of someone that walked the streets here in new york, which makes it a two-sided issue. which is a delate, as it were. there is a palestinian side, with beautiful aria's sung about what they claim to have lost in israel. there is an israeli side. and there's a dead man. and its seems to me that-- peter gelb would not have done an opera of the same sort about the death of martin luther king making a debating topic, should he have been killed. or the death of john kennedy, making a debating topic of should he have been killed. or pick one of the over 2,000 people that died on 9/11. the idea 6 having beautiful arias sung on the killer's side seems to me morally unacceptable. so he can do it, but i find it very troubling that he did. >> rose: i think this -- >> i think this is a very sensitive m