the Rumor family took on symbolically ironic later roles in the opera. Fink further posited that the reaction of American audiences to the portrayal of the Rumor family was partly because it was sociologically accurate. He discussed the scene in the historical context of past depictions in American popular culture of Jewish-American families. A separate academic study by Ruth Sara Longobardi discusses the opera with respect to issues about depictions of Palestinians and Jews. She explores how the use of contemporary media in productions, such as the Penny Woolcock film of the opera, affects perception of the two sides of the political conflict. The 2009 Juilliard performance generated renewed controversy. A letter to The Juilliard Journal protested the opera as "a political statement made by the composer to justify an act of terrorism by four Palestinians". The school's president, Joseph W. Polisi, responded with his own letter, stating that he was "a longtime friend of Israel and have visited the country on numerous occasions", as well as a recipient of the King Solomon Award from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He described Klinghoffer as "a profoundly perceptive and human commentary on a political/religious problem that continues to find no resolution". He added that Juilliard and other institutions "have to be responsible for maintaining an environment in which challenging, as well as comforting, works of art are presented to the public". In June 2014, the Metropolitan Opera in New York cancelled an international simulcast and radio broadcast of this opera due to "an outpouring of concern" locally that it "might be used to fan global anti-semitism". In addition to cancelling both broadcasts, the company agreed to include a statement from Klinghoffer's daughters in the printed program of the production. Peter Gelb, general manager for the Met, stated: I'm convinced that the opera is not anti-Semitic, but I've also become convinced that there is genuine concern in the international Jewish community that the live transmission of The Death of Klinghoffer would be inappropriate at this time of rising anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe. In an official statement, Adams said: "The cancellation of the international telecast is a deeply regrettable decision and goes far beyond issues of 'artistic freedom,' and ends in promoting the same kind of intolerance that the opera's detractors claim to be preventing." In a September 2014 New York magazine piece, critic Justin Davidson denied that The Death of Klinghoffer was anti-Semitic