The literary event was scrapped in the fallout of the former Adelaide Festival board's decision to rescind its invitation to Abdel-Fattah over her previous comments about Israel and Zionism, including that Zionists "have no claim or right to cultural safety" and a 2024 social media post in which she wrote: "The goal is decolonisation and the end of this murderous Zionist colony". The eventual axing of Abdel-Fattah from the Writers' Week program prompted the mass boycott of authors, Ms Adler and the entire festival board's resignations, and the appointment of a replacement board. "Given the importance that Israel and its loyal diaspora advocates place on demographic calculations, it's instructive to think about the relationship between the significance accorded to the speech of a single Palestinian writer and academic and the worthlessness accorded to the lives of Palestinians," she said.
Author: Stephanie Richards
Published at: 2026-03-01 23:12:10
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