Adelaide Festival Deplatforms Antisemite Writer, Faces Boycott
The Adelaide Festival’s decision to rescind an invitation sparks debate over free speech versus community safety, highlighting rising antisemitism and the responsibility of cultural institutions after terror violence.
The organisers of the Adelaide Festival and its flagship Writers’ Week made a controversial but reasonable decision this week by rescinding an invitation to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah after scrutiny of her past social media posts praising the October 7 attacks and suggesting “the end of Israel”.
UPDATE 13/1/2026 Adelaide Writers’ Week 2026 cancelled. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Actions taken by the Festival Board
The festival board said its choice was driven by concerns over cultural sensitivity and community safety in the wake of the devastating Bondi Beach terror attack in December 2025, which left 15 people dead and shook Australia’s Jewish community.
This is not censorship — it is a festival protecting its audience. A cultural event should be a space where people feel safe and welcomed — not one that amplifies voices that have celebrated terrorist violence against a community. Asking for basic sensitivity in public forums after a mass killing is hardly unreasonable. Please note I strongly support free speech, but it must have limits, which include incitement to violence.
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s response is predictable; she has played the race card, falsely accusing the festival board of being racist. You can read her tweets and the responses here. She was also rightly labelled a hypocrite after she called for the cancellation of a Jewish author from the same event two years ago.
Instead of gratitude for this thoughtful action, dozens of invited writers pulled out in protest, accusing the festival of censorship and “discrimination”. High-profile authors, including Helen Garner, Zadie Smith, Michelle de Kretser and Yanis Varoufakis, announced they would no longer participate. This is another form of antisemitism and feeds stochastic terrorism.
Yet this backlash highlights a troubling double standard: what other minority group sees a backlash — not when someone celebrates violence against them, but when event organisers choose not to platform that celebration?
The people withdrawing from the Adelaide Festival due to Randa Abdel-Fattahs deserved expulsion, are standing by a person who has said and done the most disgusting, harmful and damaging things. For example Abdel Fattah has:
1. Doxed Jewish people, risking their lives and… pic.twitter.com/QDByLUXkEA
— David Hollyoake (@Holly_Da) January 10, 2026
Premier Peter Malinauskas threw his support behind the board’s decision, saying under legislation he was prevented from directing the board, but “when asked for my opinion, I was happy to make it clear that the state government did not support the inclusion of Dr Abdel-Fattah on the Adelaide Writers’ Week program”.
Jewish Australians have endured rising antisemitism in recent years, including the Bondi tragedy itself and continued threats linked to global conflict. It is understandable that community leaders and festival programmers would be cautious about featuring someone whose rhetoric has crossed into endorsing the eradication of Israel, in other words, genocide of Jews — a request for basic cultural safety, not a silencing of views.
Some terrible statistics need to be brought into context:
- 738% increase in antisemitic events since October 7, 2023
- Jews are 55x more likely to experience a hate crime than any other Australian.
Supporters of the festival’s decision — including some Jewish community representatives — have praised the move as necessary and compassionate, rejecting the idea that sensitivity to Jewish trauma is itself discriminatory.
This is not new. In 2023, the Adelaide Writers’ Week faced controversy when it included Palestinian-American novelist Susan Abulhawa and Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd in its lineup.
The debate now centres on whether arts festivals should prioritise freedom of expression above all else, or community wellbeing, when recent events have inflicted real wounds. For many Jewish Australians and other supporters of Israel, this incident is a hopeful sign that public institutions are finally taking antisemitism and threats against their community seriously.
Free Speech
Free speech is essential in a democracy, but it is not absolute. Reasonable limits are widely accepted where speech causes real harm or danger.
Key limits include:
- Incitement or celebration of violence or terrorism
- Threats, harassment, or intimidation of individuals or groups
- Hate speech that dehumanises or calls for exclusion or eradication
- Platform and context limits — no one is entitled to every stage or audience
- Public safety concerns, especially after traumatic events
- Defamation and deliberate harmful falsehoods
Importantly, declining to platform someone is not censorship, and legal free speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
The guiding principle is whether speech contributes to debate or legitimises harm. Protecting free expression while preventing violence and intimidation preserves both liberty and social cohesion.
Summary
The festival board has taken positive action to cancel a hateful antisemite for good reasons. We can applaud this action, especially in the light of previous writer’s weeks where speakers had put forth an extreme pro-Palestine, anti-Israel, and in some cases genocidal position.
We must stand against antisemitism. Please consider joining Never Again is Now (founded by Rev Mark Leach).
___
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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This article seems to suggest that the festival board made this decision ‘willingly’ – which is clearly not the case. The fact that the board chair and three other members resigned after the decision shows they felt they were politically pressured into the decision.
This article states that the board made the decision based on concerns over community safety. This is incorrect. Not once did the board ever state this. This is a false claim made by the author in order to run the ‘free speech versus community safety’ line.
Free speech and community safety are both important – and so is truth and accuracy.
So where did the pressure come from?
On Friday, Jewish Community Council of South Australia public and government liaison Norman Schueler said the council had sent a letter to the board requesting the removal of Abdel-Fattah from the Writers’ Week program. Which is neither here nor there.
More importantly however is the fact that Schueler spoke to Premier Malinauskas about removing Abdel-Fattah from the program.
And that’s where the pressure came from. ‘Technically, I’m not allowed to interfere BUT…
A writers week is all about the free exchange of ideas. But once politicians, (swayed by a powerful lobby group) become involved, sadly this is no longer possible.
As a result, writers Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, Miles Franklin winner Michelle de Kretser, authors Drusilla Modjeska and Melissa Lucashenko along with Stella award-winning poet Evelyn Araluen are boycotting the event.
Best-selling author Trent Dalton, who was scheduled to deliver a keynote at Adelaide Town Hall also withdrew. Dalton’s scheduled interviewer, ABC journalist Julia Baird, along with almost a dozen other high-profile ABC employees participation is in limbo. ABC radio presenters David Marr and Jonathan Green have confirmed their withdrawal.
Others to quit the event include commentators Jane Caro and Peter FitzSimons, the co-founder of Cheek Media, Hannah Ferguson, the journalist and academic Peter Greste, First Nations academic and writer Prof Chelsea Watego, political analyst Amy Remeikis and economist, politician and author Yanis Varoufakis.
Australian authors Bri Lee and Madeleine Gray said they would not participate unless the festival reversed its decision and reinstated Abdel-Fattah.
I do feel sorry for Malinauskas in this situation as I don’t think he anticipated the fallout from his decision to be so significant. But on the other hand he has chosen to be at the behest of a very powerful lobby group.
Col.
What do you base your comment that Norman Schueler spoke with Malinauskas or has applied pressure?
I have just spoken with Norman, and all that was done was the Jewish council wrote a letter, but no pressure was put, only rightful concern because of Abdel-Fattah’s social media antisemitic hate comments.
Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah, Jihardist, born Australia in 1979 (same year as Islamist Revolution in Iran ) of Palestinian father + Egyptian mother who were allowed entry to Australia as refugees by Liberal Prime Minister Fraser . Lawyer, sociologist, formerly Liasion Officer of The Islamic Council of Victoria. Patron of “The Racial Justice Centre ” .In 2016 got her PhD on “Islamophobia” , stood for ‘Unity Party ” with slogan -” “Say No to Pauline Hanson ” , ” The Australian Research Council ” granted her their “Future Fellowship ” $ 870, 269-00 for 2023-2027 (NOTE :- 7 October 2023 occurred in that year!). HATE SPEECH – she is an Activist for death to all Jews and destruction of Israel . Prays 5 times a day, fasts , wears hijab (except when applying for a job, etc ). Said ” I LOOK TO WAYS TO BEND THE RULES , AND I SUBVERT THEM !’ My Conclusions : Australia’ s Democracy, our Culture, Values, Safety and Christian and Jewish religions are in grave danger from her and her co-religionists. For this I blame Liberal Prime Minister , Malcolm Fraser as the man who imported Terrorists whose descendants today wish to destroy not just Jews and Israel , but, Australia . What a dreadful waste of Taxpayers ‘ money to fund more HATE of us with the Research Grant ! Shame on the Liberal Party and John Howard for Hate Speech against Pauline Hanson resulting in her jailing so many years ago. I remember our current Labor Attorney -General Penny Wong , a young uni. student, pelting us to stop us attending Pauline’s speech at the Oberdan Cente in about 1996. STOP all migration ! STOP all funding for “islamophobia, etc. Spend the many wasted millions on hospitals, defence, proper education, etc. Deport all enemies of Australia , ie Jihardists , whether born in Australia or not ! Go Pauline Hanson and Trump !
You might want to speak to Norman again. Because it seems Norman did speak to Malinauskas.
‘Mr Malinauskas said while he had spoken to Mr Schueler about the matter’.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-11/fallout-amid-writers-week-cancellation-of-randa-abdel-fattah/106217646
If Norman’s telling you that ‘all that was done was the Jewish council wrote a letter’, then, well I guess you can either take him at his word and suggest Malinauskas is lying.
Once again, I feel sorry for Malinauskas trying to do the right thing by a lobby group that he’s beholden to, meantime it seems like they’re leaving him out to dry.
It was a difficult decision, but my thinking is this, you know, there is … a rising authoritarian impulse … and a lot of that is silencing voices that are seen by one pressure group or another as objectionable – Jane Caro
The ABC lied. Colour me surprised.
Dr Randa Abdel Fattah is the prolific author of various books about Palestine and Islam, and , there are plans for a movie . Got her PhD from Macquarie University for thesis (book published in 2018 by Rutledge ) : “Islamophobia + Everyday Multiculturalism in Australia ” available in libraries, from universities and for purchase. It appears she was going to present at this year’s ” Adelaide Writers’ Festival ” her latest book “Discipline ” (2025) about how Palestinian and Muslim voices were silenced during Israel and Palestine War in 2021. She presents Muslims as victims of racism and Islamophobia, including in Australia . For this she blames the Jews here especially . In past years she advocated the death of all Jews and destruction of Israel. No wonder given Bondi Massacre that her participation at the Festival was cancelled. She has a husband and 4 children.
She has written 13 books . Her books have been listed for prizes and read in many countries and are taught in schools and universities here. One children’s book in English and Arabic was short-listed for the Prime Minister’s prize. Her books have replaced Shakespeare and the great classics of our European cultural past in Australian schools and universities. No wonder so many people are ignorant and brain-washed into ” racial guilt ” and taught that Muslims are ” victims” of “Islamophobia” . The violent conversion of Anatolia (Turkiye ), Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, The Holy Land , Syria, Crimea, Egypt, Spain , Arabia, parts of Africa, etc are unquestioned , assumed to have been “peaceful ” which they were not ! Her aim is to influence minds to accept in the near future The Islamic State of Australia with herself and her husband as wealthy “Elites ” . Her books are Propaganda.
‘The ABC lied. Colour me surprised.’
OK. I’ll take your word for it.
:) Well at best they extrapolated incorrectly based on their biased agenda. But it’s more accurate to say lied.
Would you say such people have contributed to the recent bondi massacre?
Should this person be held accountable?
this article reeks of basic ignorance, and unchristianlike behaviour, unless of course you deem the entire Christian modus operandi, to be a Messainic, bloodthirsty operation at no matter what cost to human life. As a Palestinian Randa Abdel Fattah is a Semite, and the Zionist regime are anti-Semites, -European continuing the racist policies of Europe. It was the Zionists who made a deal with the nazi in 1933. it was Zionists who bombed Baghdad to spread fear thru the Jewish population of the Middle East.
Israel as a nation state has zero relation to ancient Israelites. it’s a modern , garrison state there to extract resources from oil rich nations by being global empire’s attack dog.
enough of this racist, zombie protestantism. time for some Christian thought that Christ wouldn’t be deeply disgusted by.
Modern Israelis are indigenous. To be indigenous to a land means to be the original inhabitants of that land. For example the Native Americans are considered indigenous since they had lived in North America for tens of thousands of years before Christopher Columbus had discovered it. Native Americans have lived in North America for such a long time that they even have a distinct lineage which can be traced using a DNA test. This also applies to most Jews. Most Jews have very distinct genetic markers which trace back to the Middle East. To tell a Jew from Europe that he has no place in Israel is like telling a Native American who lives in Egypt that he has no place in America. On top of this there are overwhelming amounts of archaeological evidence that supports the existence of Jewish people living in the land of Israel since ancient times. From coins with Hebrew writing to the Masada and who could forget, the Western Wall. Jews are undeniably the most indigenous people to modern day Israel.
Genetic studies overwhelmingly confirm that the Jewish people share deep ancestral roots in the Middle East, particularly in the ancient region of Judea (modern-day Israel).
Major peer-reviewed research, including landmark studies published in journals like Nature and The American Journal of Human Genetics, demonstrate that Jewish populations—Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi—retain a strong Middle Eastern genetic signature despite centuries of diaspora.
Key findings include:
• Jewish populations exhibit clear genetic continuity with ancient Israelites, with markers shared with other Levantine populations such as Samaritans and Druze.
• Studies using Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA show that Jews trace paternal lineages to the Middle East, especially around Judea, and maternal lines that reflect localized admixture during the diaspora without severing Middle Eastern ties.
• A comprehensive 2010 study by Doron Behar et al. found that “all Jewish communities are linked to the Levant,” supporting historical claims of origin in the Land of Israel.
This genetic evidence debunks modern revisionist narratives that deny Jewish indigeneity to the land of Israel. It underscores that Jews are not colonial newcomers, but a native people returning to their ancestral homeland after millennia of forced exile and persecution.
More on this by By Tony Masiuk & Dani Ishai Behan: https://medium.com/@tony.masiuk/no-ashkenazi-jews-are-not-genetically-european-1d21657d0c19
Also… the IHRA definition of antisemitism is:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:
✅ Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
✅ Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
✅ Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
✅ Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
✅ Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
✅ Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
✅ Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour.
✅ Applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
✅ Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
✅ Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
✅ Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
The Haavara Agreement (romanized from Hebrew: heskem haavara, lit. ’transfer agreement’) was an agreement between Nazi Germany and Zionist organisations signed on 25 August 1933.
The agreement was finalised after three months of talks by the Zionist Federation of Germany, the Anglo-Palestine Bank (under the directive of the Jewish Agency) and the economic authorities of Nazi Germany. It was a major factor in making possible the migration of approximately 60,000 German Jews to Palestine between 1933 and 1939.
THIS WAS ABOUT SURVIVAL !
The agreement enabled Jews FLEEING PERSECUTION UNDER the Nazi regime to transfer some portion of their assets to British Mandatory Palestine. Emigrants sold their assets in Germany to pay for essential goods (manufactured in Germany) to be shipped to Mandatory Palestine.
In the 1930s, the Sephardic-Mizrahi population in Mandatory Palestine was around 70,000 individuals. In addition at least 400,000 Jews lived in other North African counties.
When Randa Abdel-Fattahs does things like leading KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN in genocidal chants against Israel and Zionists at Sydney University, it is not surprising that she is not welcome at the Adelaide festival – And this just a few weeks after the worst massacre in Australia’s history!
Jews deliberately murdered by Islamic terrorists, one of which was born in Sydney.
‘It underscores that Jews are not colonial newcomers, but a native people returning to their ancestral homeland after millennia of forced exile and persecution.’
I think you are right.
However I was reading another wonderful article today on the DD today talking about the parable of the wedding banquet in Matt 22. It deals with the kingdom of heaven and wedding invitations were sent out to the Jews as God’s chosen people.
The Jews ignored him, invitations were sent out again – the Jews continued to ignore him and this time even killed the messengers sent to them.
In verse 7 it states: ‘The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.’
The King then sent out the invitations to the gentiles.
So in this parable we have the rejection of Jesus by the Jews and also significantly the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD70.
As my Spirit-filled life Bible says in the notes to Matt 22:7-9 ‘The destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 marked the end of national Israel as God’s covenant people. God’s redemptive purpose would be carried out among the Gentiles.’
So possibly, and I’m open to your take on this, but even if these people say they have a right to the land, even if they say they have the right DNA – it doesn’t matter.
Because of their rejection, they no longer have a special invitation (as God’s chosen people). They received two invites – one under the ministry of Jesus, and the other under the ministry of the Apostles.
But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
This man was a Jew. He was one of those who had refused Jesus, but thought that his invitation was still valid because he was part of the original ‘Chosen of God’ list of invitees that received two invitations. He was relying on the covenants. Yet he wasn’t dressed in the new covenant – the blood of Jesus and the righteousness that comes from his redemption.
Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
So the persecution you talk about when it comes to the Jews is because they want to sit at the banquet table without accepting Jesus.
Great outcome in the end.
Freedom wins.
And poor old Malinauskas’s reputation is all battered and bruised. He tried to do the right thing, caved into a powerful lobby group and thought that in light of the Bondi terror attacks he could launch an attack on freedom of speech.
Wonderful to see the festival defend the vital rights of all Australians to freedom of conscience, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. the same things the Canberra Declaration believes in.
There is a line in free speech and it was crossed.
Promoting genocide and rape and murder is not free speech.
That the cesspool of hate (Writers week) was cancelled is not a bad outcome.
Randa chose to live with hate. That was her choice.
Teaching that same hatred to children is not activism; it is moral failure.
Too many on the Left enabled her because they share the same hatred and have swallowed narratives fed to them without question.
There is a line in free speech and it was crossed.
I was sitting in church this morning listening to Col Stringer and he was banging on about how everything good in our society is because of Christianity. And he mentioned a big long list of things and mentioned ‘freedom of speech’. ‘If it wasn’t for Christianity there would be no freedom of speech’.
And everyone in the congregation was going ‘Amen’ and ‘preach it brother’ and all that sort of stuff.
But the simple fact is we know that is not true. The Ancient Greeks instituted freedom of speech. Five centuries before Jesus.
Funnily enough, the Greeks also instituted democracy (despite Col Stringer also telling us we only have democracy because of Christianity).
Like the Greeks, the Romans also believed in freedom of speech. Hence the big forums, where oratory was acclaimed and one had the freedom to espouse great ideas no matter how contrary they were to the accepted norm.
When Jesus started his ministry, he lived in a world where freedom of speech abounded. The Romans promoted this. There were all sorts of ‘messiahs’ and what nots going around preaching all sorts of things, John the Baptist included. The Romans celebrated this.
The Jews hated it.
As far as the Jews were concerned the line in free speech had been crossed with John the Baptist. So he was killed. As far as the Jews were concerned the line in free speech had also been crossed with Jesus. So he was killed.
The Romans were happy for both of these two to preach because they believed in free speech.
The Jews believed:
There is a line in free speech and it was crossed.
So no. I don’t believe we should have some line in free speech determined by one particular lobby group that tells us what we can and can not say.
It’s that same lobby group that today would prevent John the Baptist and Jesus from preaching.
Well done Kym!!! I appreciate all you’ve written here.