Reviewing the New York Metropolitan Opera’s recent run of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida—set in ancient Egypt—Heather Mac Donald notes the presence on the stage, “at random moments,” of people dressed as 19th- or early-20th-century archaeologists. Mac Donald discerned from the program notes that these “khakied supernumeraries,” who don’t interact with the other characters and distract from the opera’s story and music, are “the vehicle through which [the director] Michael Mayer pays homage to the Ur-theorist of colonialist oppression: Edward Said.” To Said, European archaeology, and study of the Middle East, was an act of theft, as was Aida itself—despite the fact that it was commissioned by Ismail Pasha, the ruler of Egypt.

Mac Donald explains Said’s “unhinged” critique of the opera:

Aida has nothing to do with the mounting of a European show of force [in the 19th century]. The imperial domination within the opera is between North African states: Ethiopia invades Egypt and is repulsed. This conflict is hardly an artifact of fevered Western “othering.” . . .

Here is the core of Said’s outlook: knowledge, or rather, Western knowledge, is zero-sum. When a Westerner learns something about a non-Westerner, that non-Westerner has been dispossessed of whatever it is that the Westerner has learned. An aborigine worried about the theft of his soul via photograph could not be more primitive in his thinking. Said never specifies to whom that Westerner is supposed to apply for permission to study the world outside the West.

Love, curiosity, empathy, the thirst to understand, the thrill of discovery—these impetuses to knowledge are alien to Said. . . . Verdi tried to learn as much as was then knowable about non-Western music in order to recreate a non-Western sound world. His Oriental characters are more sympathetic than many of their Verdian counterparts from Europe.

While not impressed by the director’s embrace of fashionable postcolonial nonsense, Mac Donald has some kind words for some of the performers, including Angel Blue, the African American soprano who played the title character:

Opera “has every aspect of our humanity and our emotions in it,” the soprano said on CBS. “Sometimes the story is so universal.” Apparently her Aida homework did not include brushing up on Edward Said.

Considering the current state of Israel-Arab relations, Ghaith al-Omari writes

First and foremost, no ceasefire will be possible without the release of Israeli hostages and commitments to disarm Hamas and remove it from power. The final say on these matters rests with Hamas commanders on the ground in Gaza, who have been largely impervious to foreign pressure so far. At minimum, however, the United States should insist that Qatari and Egyptian mediators push Hamas’s external leadership to accept these conditions publicly, which could increase pressure on the group’s Gaza leadership.

Washington should also demand a clear, public position from key Arab states regarding disarmament. The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas endorsed this position in a June letter to Saudi Arabia and France, giving Arab states Palestinian cover for endorsing it themselves.

Some Arab states have already indicated a willingness to play a significant role, but they will have little incentive to commit resources and personnel to Gaza unless Israel (1) provides guarantees that it will not occupy the Strip indefinitely, and (2) removes its veto on a PA role in Gaza’s future, even if only symbolic at first. Arab officials are also seeking assurances that any role they play in Gaza will be in the context of a wider effort to reach a two-state solution.

On the other hand, Washington must remain mindful that current conditions between Israel and the Palestinians are not remotely conducive to . . . implementing a two-state solution.