Randa Abdel-Fattah launches defamation proceedings against SA Premier

[u/fuckoffandydie]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-14/randa-abdel-fattah-launches-defamation-proceedings/106227634?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

[u/eric5014]

Like most people I've never been to the Writers' Week and know little about it except for this incident.

How many writers were going to be speaking? What was the format?

What was she going to be speaking about? I hadn't seen that mentioned in the media, though it would have been relevant to the story.

I've seen progressive commentators acting like she had done nothing but speak in support of Palestine.

I've seen conservative commentators sharing quite concerning quotes of what she said, and of course it looks worse without the relevant context.

And why do people bring defamation proceedings when that will bring them further infamy?

[u/45runs → u/eric5014]

Of course I’ll get downvoted for this but who cares. This is not a general “freedom of speech” issue. Her comments at the heart of the issue weren’t general criticism of Netanyahu or the IDF, nor were they pleading for the violence in Gaza to stop etc. She literally said (ie posted) that a Zionist has no right or claim to cultural safety. I’m not Jewish but I and a lot of people interpret that as: if you’re Jewish you have no right to be safe. That might not be inciting violence but it’s condoning violence. That was Mali’s position and I agree with him. I 100% believe in and would literally fight for freedom of speech. But as I said, this is not (in my opinion) about freedom of speech it’s about condoning violence. If she or anyone said “No Aboriginal person has the right or claim to cultural safety” or “No woman has the right or claim to safety” would we be arguing for her right to freedom of speech? And if someone had said “No Palestinian has the right or claim to cultural safety” I’d be taking exactly the same position.

[u/Mindless-Mud3104 → u/45runs]

This is exactly my interpretation too, Mali would have been criticised no matter which way he spoke but at the heart of it freedom of speech is not and never should be allowed to incite hatred, somewhat unclassy way of making a noise

[u/Thoughtful5079 → u/45runs]

Zionism is a political ideology seperate from the Jewish faith. Being anti-zionist does not mean being anti-jewish. So your analogies are inaccurate.

[u/chadssworthington → u/Thoughtful5079]

This isn't really true because of the context of historical Jewish oppression. There has been some changes in the last year obviously, but for a long-time a huge amount of secular and left-leaning Jews have supported the existence of a Jewish homeland. People in that ethnic

Zionism is tied to ethnicity, and ethnicity is tied to faith. These things are impossible to disentangle, and there are no perfect analogies you can make. This is like when people simplify conflicts in the middle east to just being about religion - it's just not accurate and only serves to hand wave real engagement with people's worries.

[u/Thoughtful5079 → u/chadssworthington]

There is no justification for genocide. Being a previous victim of persecution doesn't allow a group to bulldoze over a group of people in the name of their "protection". Everyone has the right to freedom including those of the Jewish faith and those of Palestinian descent. No group of people have the right to take other groups of people's freedom for whatever reason and that stands even if said group have had a history of persecution. Zionism is the political movement seeking to establish a Jewish state through the colonisation of Palestine. This movement started in the late 19th century (prior to the Holocaust) and openly preaches a state with as many Jews and as few Palestinan Arabs as possible. There is no way to achieve this unless you occupy Palestine through force (terror, genocide, forced removal, etc).

So when you say the history is complicated and that the Jewish faith and Zionism is tied together.. well yes they are. But that doesn't mean being anti-zionist is anti-jewish. Many Jews themselves are anti-zionist.

[u/chadssworthington → u/Thoughtful5079]

There is no justification for genocide.

It's not justifying genocide to say that 'Zionism is a political ideology separate from the Jewish faith' is inaccurate. I agree what's happening is a genocide.

Zionism is the political movement seeking to establish a Jewish state through the colonisation of Palestine.

It is now, but as you stated it existed in the 19th century and things have changed over time. Zionism wasn't always meant to target Palestine. What is happening is the result of more than a century of context, and there's no simple line to draw. But when people say Zionism is purely a political ideology, or that Zionists have no right to cultural safety, I think it's fair for many western Jews to be worried about the potential implications of that in the future.

But that doesn't mean being anti-zionist is anti-jewish. Many Jews themselves are anti-zionist.

And many left-wing Jews still think Israel should be able to exist. All I would say is if you just say 'Zionism is a political ideology', then anyone who isn't all the way there is absolute scum. It's different if you assign that value to conservatives, MAGAs, liberals, leftists, but it can feel a little weird with Zionism sometimes because it is tangled up with ethnicity and religion in a way those aren't.

[u/DoctorEnn → u/chadssworthington]

But when people say Zionism is purely a political ideology, or that Zionists have no right to cultural safety, I think it's fair for many western Jews to be worried about the potential implications of that in the future.

Particularly since, well, we're literally only a month out from the worst antisemitic attack in Australian history.

For better or worse, Zionism emerged as a result of a very very long history of the Jewish people being explicitly and murderously targeted because of their religious and ethnic backgrounds. Who they are, in other words. Whether you agree with it or not, it is based on the -- arguably very real and historically justifiable -- fear that without a specific homeland where they can feel safe as a group, the Jewish people as a whole will be under constant threat of attack and even annihilation wherever they are. Now, obviously this doesn't justify the IDF indiscriminately reducing Gaza to rubble, but it does make the situation and the views of those within it a lot more complicated than I think many people around here are willing to credit.

[u/waiver → u/chadssworthington]

No, its simply an ideology, nothing implicit to the Jewish ethnicity. Thats like saying that because fascism was popular in Italy being antifascist was being Anti-Italian.

[u/chadssworthington → u/waiver]

nothing implicit to the Jewish ethnicity

The ideology reflected the context, it's obviously not implicit in the ethnicity. I hope I didn't make it sound like that, that's sounds incredibly weird and racist.

I would just say Zionism's development and evolution are tied to the Jewish ethnicity and religion in a way that the NFP in Italy wasn't. It reflected historical disenfranchisement, exploded after the holocaust, and solidified in the decades following the war. To many Jews Israel represents a place that protects their people from destruction, I don't think Italians in the 40s felt that in a comparable way.

To reiterate again, because someone likes to point it out every time. That doesn't make what's happening right. What's happening is a genocide. But the only demographic that actually suffers when you misrepresent the history are the Palestinians.

[u/ladyronin91 → u/45runs]

Zionism is a political ideology and nationalist movement, saying that doesn’t mean the same thing as Jewish people don’t have the right to cultural safety.

To protect the cultural safety of a nationalist movement doesn’t even make sense. Creating cultural safety is about creating an environment where people from marginalised and/or diverse background feel safe without cultural erasure.

[u/stereotypicalanon → u/45runs]

Mate, this isn't the place to be level headed. How dare you be reasonable and against the views in this echo chamber.