Adler argued vehemently against the board’s decision, which was revealed last Thursday. Since then, four members of the board have resigned, including the chair, and writers have pulled out en masse. Adler says her count is 180.
“In the aftermath of the Bondi atrocity, state and federal governments have rushed to mollify the ‘we told you so’ posse. With alarming insouciance, protests are being outlawed, free speech is being constrained and politicians are rushing through processes to ban phrases and slogans,” she writes.
“Now religious leaders are to be policed, universities monitored, the public broadcaster scrutinised and the arts starved.
“Writers and writing matters, even when they are presenting ideas that discomfort and challenge us. We need writers now more than ever, as our media closes up, as our politicians grow daily more cowed by real power, as Australia grows more unjust and unequal.”
Sydney-based Abdel-Fattah had been scheduled to speak about her new novel, Discipline, which examines ideas of truth and censorship. In recent years, she has come under fire for past social media posts, which said Zionists had “no claim to cultural safety” and that institutions that considered “fragile feelings of Zionists” were “abhorrent”.
She was also criticised for posting an illustration of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag parachute as her Facebook profile photo the day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. She has since apologised. “At that point, I had no idea about the death toll, about what was happening on the ground,” Abdel-Fattah told ABC News on Monday. “Of course I do not support the killing of innocent civilians.“
Responding to Adler’s announcement on Instagram, she wrote, “I stand with her.”
She continued: “Zionists went after a Palestinian woman and an anti-zionist Jewish woman. That’s their business model… Judaism and Jewish identity is not Zionism, a political ideology. Solidarity with the brilliant Louise Adler who has had her Jewish identity attacked and erased.”
Loading
Last Thursday, the Adelaide Festival board announced that while it was not suggesting “in any way” that Abdel-Fattah or her writing had any connection with the Bondi attack, given her past statements, “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi”.
Former NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern cancelled her appearance at the festival on Monday, following high-profile writers Trent Dalton, Helen Garner, Zadie Smith and Masha Gessen.
Adler did not respond to requests for comment.
More to come
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
