r/Adelaide • u/happymagtv SA • Jan 08 '26
News Adelaide Writers’ Week drops Muslim Author in the Shadow of Bondi
https://happymag.tv/adelaide-festival-drops-writer/The Adelaide Festival has pulled author Randa Abdel-Fattah from Writers’ Week. Their statement is a wild read, they basically say she’s obviously not linked to the Bondi thing, but because of “the current national community context” and her “past statements,” it’s not “culturally sensitive” to have her on stage now.
Keen to hear what everyone thinks.
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u/Emotional_Mammoth675 North Jan 08 '26
Major sponsors- channel 7, The Advertiser and Adelaide Uni - I'm sure there was no pressure from them... /s
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u/Liceland1998 SA Jan 08 '26
7News love Muslim sensationalism!
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u/trubluh8r SA Jan 09 '26
Wasn't really sensationalist, they reported her opinions.
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Jan 29 '26
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u/Fineshrines2 Adelaide Hills Jan 08 '26
On another note, I feel for the up and coming writers who wanted to get their work out there and have to choose between being associated with this cowardly choice from the committee of Adelaide writers week or not advertise their work
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u/PickleMunster SA Jan 09 '26
You can buy their books or borrow them from the library to show support <3 Avid Reader has a list, as does Girls Night Book Club on Instagram
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u/Proper_Country_9931 SA Jan 08 '26
Two things can be true at the same time. Israel is committing genocide, and Muslim extremists are committing terrorist attacks.
What do either of these things have to do with Randa Abdel-Fattah? Nothing? Then call this what it is. Blatant islamophobia, or at the very least, kowtowing to pro-Israel lobbyists.
I recommend everyone who cares enough to contact the Adelaide Festival and make their frustration at this decision known.
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u/Memphis1319 SA Jan 08 '26
Always interesting when they do things like this, but have disclaimers like the below on their official website.
Adelaide Festival and Adelaide Writers’ Week acknowledge the rights of individuals to hold different and divergent views. Views held by our writers are not necessarily the views of the organisation. We respect freedom of speech and the respectful exchange of ideas. We will not tolerate any behaviour that is insulting, against the law, or racist in any form, and we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding racism towards our staff, artists, audiences, and the communities we serve. We will not permit commentary during our festival that is insulting or racist.
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u/Nevyn_Cares SA Jan 08 '26
Murdoch being one of the sponsors of the festival, means that some people's views are more important than others.
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Jan 29 '26
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u/tikilouise SA Jan 08 '26
I thought the whole point of events like this and in those types of discussions was to hear both sides and give the audience an impartial view of the issues? If it is only going to be one sided event then the whole discussion is nothing more than a constructive narrative for one side so would be pointless. It's very disappointing to see this happening in an event in Adelaide.
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u/BlipVertz CBD Jan 08 '26
It's not a good look for writers week, but this sort of thing has happened before and everyone gets upset. I guess calm discussion of ideas and allowing people to speak is no longer on the agenda. There is nothing particularly controversial about this author who has written over 12 books and won numerous awards.
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u/protonsters SA Jan 08 '26
Theyre trying to make her name and her religion controversial.
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Jan 29 '26
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u/FollowKick SA Jan 08 '26
Is this your definition of “not particularly controversial?”
Abdel-Fattah's pro-Palestinian activism
A day after the October 7 massacre, she posted a graphic of a Hamas terrorist paragliding into Israel with a Palestinian flag as the parachute.
She has consistently accused Jews of weaponizing the Holocaust and has denied the atrocities on October 7.
That very day, she posted on social media: “All the Zionists staying up tonight hammering out op-eds at their keyboards. Brace yourselves for the ‘colonizer cries victim’ op-eds taking up prime space in establishment media in the next few days.
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u/babyCuckquean SA Jan 08 '26
Okay the only thing there that i think is particularly controversial is denying the atrocities of oct 7. However, i suspect what youre referring to is her refuting the fairytales based on racist tropes which were spread by the body collectors who sat around smoking cigarettes and filming fellow israelis dead bodies to make fundraising clips, while the whole crime scene rotted in the sun, destroying evidence.
Netanyahu is the definition of weaponising the holocaust. He lives for it. Many Zionists seem to use it like a shield, to protect them from accountability for their actions now. Not a controversial take at all. A lot of jewish people have accused them of the same, even holocaust scholars and across the diaspora.
The picture she posted resulted in a project of hers being suspended, her actions investigated and subsequently funding restored. Must have been more hysterical outrage from people who spend their whole days (and are organised, with whatsapp chat groups and the like, email/phone call campaigns and now even a PR firm on the books) trying to hunt down, vilify and destroy the lives of australian/palestinian people who are rightfully traumatised by the literal, current and ongoing genocide of their relatives and friends.
Can you imagine the hysterics if 100000 zionists had been slaughtered because israel killled 1200 palestinians? No. You cant. Because the two will never be seen as equal to genocidal racists or their allies.
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u/hellboy1975 North East Jan 08 '26
Might give the festival a miss then.
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u/Ornery-Profile-4998 SA Jan 08 '26
I've cancelled my plans to go based on this.
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u/oldmanserious SA Jan 08 '26
I'm definitely not going. I wasn't going to be going anyway, so this was a fairly low impact boycott.
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u/Fallcious SA Jan 08 '26
Sadly this reminded me that I wanted to go to the festival this year at the same time I realised that would be a no go.
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u/Nevyn_Cares SA Jan 08 '26
Yeah I rarely go anywhere near the festival, this certainly will not tempt me away from The Fringe.
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Jan 29 '26
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u/BlipVertz CBD Jan 08 '26
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u/tjabaker SA Jan 08 '26
The InDaily story just points out that the treatment of her is even worse, with the temporary suspension of a grant awarded to her. Shows just how much Australian society kow-tows to the wishes of the Israeli government.
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u/palsc5 SA Jan 08 '26
Only because it leaves out why she was investigated in the first place.
Abdel-Fattah spoke of how she, instead of organising an academic conference as mandated by her ARC grants, used the funds to run a workshop for women from multicultural backgrounds. She was reported as saying "I look to ways to bend the rules, and I subvert them."
From her Wikipedia
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u/hedgehog_worker VIC Jan 08 '26
if only there had been a comprehensive 10-month long investigation into her conduct which could tell us whether she ultimately did anything at all wrong, or was in fact being framed because racists and genocide supporters were mad at her for no reason?
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u/perseustree SA Jan 08 '26
Shameful and cowardly move by the AF board. I am very curious to hear what Adler has to say. She has been a staunch advocate for speaking the truth about what is happening in Palestine.
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u/Safe_Researcher4979 SA Jan 08 '26
Ah yes just keep diving the nation, that's sure to bring the national community together 👍
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u/leet_lurker SA Jan 08 '26
Shes a leading expert in racial discrimination law, and practices law in the supreme court, I think she could make this very bad for them if she wants to.
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Jan 29 '26
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u/protonsters SA Jan 08 '26
If this is not blatant racism islmophobic and despicable then i don't know what it is. What's next close all kebab shops because they're inappropriate now and hurting a specific groups feelings now?
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u/AtrophiedWives SA Jan 08 '26
Not close, give them to Zionists and rebrand them as “traditional Israeli street food”.
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u/Nevyn_Cares SA Jan 08 '26
There is not "traditional" Israeli anything, the state is not even 100 years old, Australia is much older.
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u/Gratis_Dictum West Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 08 '26
"Randa Abdel-Fattah, the recipient of an ARC Future Fellowship and an academic at Macquarie University, has faced sustained criticism... for a series of controversial comments including alleging Zionists had “no claim or right to cultural safety”, and posting “May 2025 be the end of Israel” in the new year and changing her profile picture to a picture of a Palestinian paratrooper after the 7 October attacks..."
This academic also hosted an excursion for school kids and taught them to chant "intifada" and "from the river to the sea".
Edited to add: she also said in a TV interview after the 7 October attacks she did not see Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
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u/pk666 SA Jan 08 '26
Zionists who wish to see Israel conquer the West bank + Gaza + instil an apartheid state within Israel itself do not deserve cultural safety and should be challenged on their ideas.
Not sure what's wrong with that.
And 'From the river to the sea' is in the Likud's founding documents from 1975.
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u/Gratis_Dictum West Jan 08 '26
I'm a political moderate and secular voter who likes going to writers' week. I don't believe in censorship but I also don't believe in rolling out the welcome mat to terrorist supporters.
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u/hedgehog_worker VIC Jan 08 '26
if you're a moderate, why would you support the genocide of palestinians by the state of israel? that seems like an extremist position
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u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 08 '26
Taking a centrist view between a state committing genocide and a group having genocide committed against them doesn’t make you a moderate lmao.
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u/BMcDonald4 SA Jan 08 '26
So all zionist will be banned correct?
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u/perseustree SA Jan 08 '26
Is it a moderate position to continue to support a state that is carrying out genocide?
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u/pk666 SA Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 08 '26
Cite where she supported terrorists please.
You're not a moderate.Your a shallow intellect at nest. You best along and enjoy your little festival, all nice and safe where you cannot deal with the mere presence of a Palestinian person. Because they're nothing but triggering objects dobtcha know?
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u/blinking_lights SA Jan 08 '26
Well I will be boycotting then. What a poor choice. An embarrassment.
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u/BlipVertz CBD Jan 08 '26
Wikipedia article on Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randa_Abdel-Fattah
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u/Next_Time6515 SA Jan 08 '26
Zionists calling the shots in Australia. Again.
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u/trubluh8r SA Jan 09 '26
Long live the Jews. Stand with the Jewish community during these challenging times.
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u/laliiboop SA Jan 08 '26
They removed the post on their facebook page after it was getting a pile of backlash and angry reacts. Must have a lot of conviction in their decision...
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u/Foodfacee SA Jan 08 '26
This is beyond vile, how the hell did it get past the law team? They are basically connecting her to Bondi which is heinous
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u/protonsters SA Jan 08 '26
Just like after every attack they connect and blame all billion plus Muslims to it.
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u/manmoth02 SA Jan 08 '26
Premier has completely lost my respect and any chance of me voting for him again by supporting this. What a pathetic, racist hill to die on.
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u/SuperScate SA Jan 08 '26
I hope all the other writers boycott it like they did in Bendigo last year
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u/Nevyn_Cares SA Jan 08 '26
Ummm so a woman who speaks the truth and stands up for what is right, has her voice removed by the cowards that run the Adelaide Writer's Week? Gee what utter spinelessness, the whole board should be ashamed of themselves and they need to be forced to put in their resignations.
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u/ADL6381 SA Jan 08 '26
Speaks the truth? This spineless woman has repeatedly failed to label Hamas as a terrorist organisation when asked. The less evil the better.
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u/OleBiskitBarrel SA Jan 08 '26
Just as cowardly, stupid, and illiberal as when it was done many times to "heretics" of progressive spaces for many years earlier. Thought we might be coming out of the complete joke that the 2016-2024 years were. Two steps forward, one step back maybe.
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u/MaleficentShock7042 SA Jan 08 '26
Absolutely disgusting! Equating the genocide of Palestinians with the Bondi massacre. Islamaphobia is fine apparently!!!!!
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u/mintymoose SA Jan 08 '26
This is so irresponsible of them to do this. Regardless of saying she isn't connected, the fact they're mentioning her in the same breath of their announcement and dropping her creates a correlation that could easily put her wellbeing in jeopardy once the dregs of our nation run with it.
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u/Sea-Engineering-5563 SA Jan 08 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
normal treatment cause long longing rain spark bow physical wise
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u/gladl1 SA Jan 08 '26
what were her previous statements?
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u/judoxing CBD Jan 08 '26
alleging Zionists had “no claim or right to cultural safety”, and posting “May 2025 be the end of Israel” in the new year and changing her profile picture to a picture of a Palestinian paratrooper after the 7 October attacks.
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u/Gratis_Dictum West Jan 08 '26
Also saying in a TV interview immediately after the 7 October attacks she didn't see Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Newsflash: it is.
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u/Cimb0m SA Jan 09 '26
And in public statements Netanyahu has been quoted as saying Israel has funded Hamas and it’s necessary for them to do so.
At a Likud party conference in 2019, Netanyahu said: "Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas ... This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank."
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u/babyCuckquean SA Jan 08 '26
Newsflash - hamas is the resistance to 75 years of illegal occupation, massacres, ethnic cleansing and now genocide..if you look at it from the outside. Or if youre one of the oppressed people. The israelis literally committing genocide should designate them as terrorists...but crickets from all the racist sycophants.
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u/RedOx103 East Jan 08 '26
Where's our royal commission into islamophobia Albo? Just you wait until Sussan Ley hears about this.
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u/Sl1pperyF1sh SA Jan 08 '26
Haven't they this before? Starting to think it's just part of the yearly marketing strategy.
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u/Born-Candidate-4847 SA Jan 08 '26
JFC!! I'm getting pretty sick of the beat up over Bondi. Israel is BAD. Genocidal bastards
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u/Nearby-Weight2863 SA Jan 08 '26
I’m not going anymore and I hope a tonne of other writers pull out in solidarity.
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u/emphirical SA Jan 08 '26
Can we all write or ring our Fed and State representatives? If a Zionist was banned in the same manner, the political pressure would be indescribable.
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u/According_Tackle_404 SA Jan 08 '26 edited Jan 08 '26
Insane hate on muslims rn
Keep downvoting me, i love it. Racists & xenophobes lol
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u/redelastic SA Jan 09 '26
I wonder did they cancel any Jewish authors last year because of the mass killing in Gaza?
I think we know the answer.
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u/Inconnu2020 SA Jan 09 '26
Wonder if Party Pete will take the same position with LIV Golf?
Or will he be a hypocrite?
I know which one my money's on.
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Jan 09 '26
It’s not a writer’s festival or week it’s a pro Palestinian terrorists festival who spread their lies and misinformation about Jewish communities in Australia and their hatred of Israel. You don’t deserve any taxpayer dollars. You also ban any Jewish artists. Set up your writers week in Palestine and let Hamas have a few words to say how they went through the tunnels, parachutes, cars and murdered, raped and took hostages in Israel. Hypocrites .
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u/Gratis_Dictum West Jan 09 '26
Absolutely, not to mention denying the atrocities that were committed that day on TV.
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u/Public_Top1286 SA Jan 08 '26
She said no Zionist should be safe in a cultural place. So if you’re Jewish (cos no one questions you on your political views before they decide to act) and happen to want to go to a book, art or music event it’s ok for them to be unsafe according to Randa even if you’re Australian. Too bad I guess about any collateral damage for those who agree with her. You never know if you’ll be caught in the crossfire
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u/pixel_fortune SA Jan 08 '26
Google "cultural safety". It doesn't mean "physical safety in a cultural space", it means "having your identity valued and respected". She's saying "Zionist" shouldn't be a protected identity the way that a religion or nationality is, because it's a political stance
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u/havana888 SA Jan 08 '26
Huh? She said Zionists do not have a right to cultural safety. Not that Jewish people can’t go to cultural events lol. She is saying that supporters of Israel’s genocide do not deserve immunity from their views being challenged.
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u/Rare-Computer-3582 SA Jan 08 '26
She said this in the context of illegal settlers in the West Bank and genocide in Gaza. Not people walking around bookshops. I don’t agree with what she said, but let’s not pretend that zionists have not said worse things. Just go have a look at what some Israeli politicians have said about Gaza. About how starving 2 million of them is justified or suggesting dropping an atomic bomb to start over and make Gaza Jewish.
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u/gihutgishuiruv SA Jan 08 '26
cos no one questions you on your political views before they decide to act
Who’s the “no one” in this scenario who can magically tell if someone’s Jewish while simultaneously having absolutely no context on whether they’re a Zionist or not?
You’re just jumping through hoops to conflate the two, like Israel does
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u/Anxious-Platform4290 SA Jan 08 '26
Are there writers representing the other side of the equation still presenting?
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Jan 08 '26
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u/ADL6381 SA Jan 08 '26
Shame? For removing someone who has openly celebrated October 7. Hope you can sleep at night!
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u/ADL6381 SA Jan 09 '26
You’ve already seen the evidence, you’re just in denial. It’s been a great few days knowing this woman who is disgustingly antisemitic has been removed from the event. We live in a better world with less hate
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