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In January 2026, the board of Adelaide Festival rescinded an invitation to Palestinian‑Australian writer and academic Randa Abdel‑Fattah to appear at Adelaide Writers’ Week, citing “cultural sensitivity” in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting that killed 15 people and was treated as an antisemitic terrorist attack inspired by the Islamic State group. The board insisted it did not link Abdel‑Fattah or her work to the attack, but argued that programming her so soon after the massacre would be inappropriate for a community in mourning. Abdel‑Fattah, a prominent critic of Israeli policy and a scholar of Islamophobia and Palestine, denounced the move as “a blatant and shameless act of anti‑Palestinian racism and censorship” and “a despicable attempt to associate me with the Bondi massacre,” stressing that her mere presence as a Palestinian has been constructed as dangerous or “unsafe.”

Abdel‑Fattah’s Viewpoints
Abdel‑Fattah’s position is openly pro‑Palestinian and sharply critical of Zionism and Israel’s conduct in Gaza, language that has attracted intense scrutiny in Australia’s polarised post‑2023 environment. She argues that critiques of Zionism and state violence are being systematically conflated with antisemitism, and that Palestinian and Arab voices are disproportionately targeted by speech restrictions and institutional disinvitations. While critics have pointed to past posts, including imagery shared after 7 October 2023, she maintains that she does not support attacks on civilians and that portrayals of her as condoning terrorism are part of an effort to delegitimise Palestinian advocacy. In the Adelaide case she has been clear that the festival’s rationale did not merely remove an individual speaker, but reinforced a racialised logic in which Palestinian presence in cultural spaces is treated as inherently provocative, unsafe or in need of management.

Boycott and Institutional Crisis
The decision triggered a swift backlash from writers in Australia and abroad, with withdrawals escalating from several dozen to around 180 speakers, including high‑profile figures such as Zadie Smith and former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Many authors stressed that excluding a Palestinian writer under the banner of “cultural sensitivity” effectively declared Palestinian participation itself to be insensitive, and they explicitly named the decision as discriminatory and racist. As the boycott widened, Writers’ Week director Louise Adler resigned, board members and the chair stepped down, and the 2026 edition of the event was formally cancelled, leaving one of Australia’s major literary platforms in disarray. Discussions have since begun around an alternative “guerrilla” festival in Adelaide, signalling an effort by local writers to rebuild trust and reclaim space for contested voices.

Divisions over Hate Speech, Safety and Governance
Not all reactions supported Abdel‑Fattah’s reinstatement, and the controversy exposed deep divisions over hate speech, safety and governance in the arts. South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas publicly backed the decision to drop her, saying it was unwise to feature someone he portrayed as, at best, insufficiently attentive to antisemitism, even as he denied direct political interference in the board’s call. Jewish community representatives who had lobbied the festival framed the disinvitation as a reasonable step to avoid further pain after Bondi, while some commentators cast the boycott as evidence of a cultural sector unwilling to confront antisemitism within pro‑Palestine activism. In turn, free‑expression advocates highlighted the board’s earlier defence of controversial pro‑Israel columnist Bret Stephens as evidence of double standards: robust speech was protected for one side but curtailed for a Palestinian critic, undermining the festival’s claims to principled neutrality.

Aftermath and Emerging Lessons
Under a newly appointed board, Adelaide Festival has now retracted its “cultural sensitivity” justification, issued an unconditional apology to Abdel‑Fattah and committed to re‑invite her to a future Writers’ Week, acknowledging that it “fell well short” of its responsibility to defend intellectual and artistic freedom. Abdel‑Fattah has welcomed the apology as a vindication of collective mobilisation against anti‑Palestinian racism, while pursuing defamation action over political attacks on her character and remaining critical of the conditions under which Palestinians are allowed to speak. The implosion of Writers’ Week has become a case study in how securitisation after terror attacks can bleed into cultural governance, how “sensitivity” language can mask racialised censorship, and how organised author boycotts can reshape the cost calculus of institutional decision‑makers.

In January 2026, Adelaide Writers’ Week collapsed after its board disinvited Palestinian‑Australian author Randa Abdel‑Fattah, citing “cultural sensitivity” following the Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting. Abdel‑Fattah condemned the decision as “a despicable attempt to associate me with the Bondi massacre,” arguing that her presence as a Palestinian was treated as inherently “unsafe.”

The move triggered a mass boycott, with around 180 writers withdrawing, board resignations, and the eventual cancellation of the entire program. The case now stands as a key example of how security politics and “community cohesion” language can slide into racialised censorship , and how collective action by artists can force institutions to reckon with their governance and values.

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