Adelaide Festival director Louise Adler has doubled down on the inclusion of the vile Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd, despite calls for them to be removed due to their antisemitic and – in the case of Abulhawa – anti-Ukraine tweets and statements.
After three Ukrainian authors who had been scheduled to appear withdrew, Adler responded:
“Writers festivals are places for us to gather together to share ideas and discuss ideas that might be upsetting, might be provocative, might be disturbing, but in the context of civil and respectful debate, so I’m really sorry they’re not going to be here because I think their voices would have been a valuable contribution.”
It is all well and good to promote debate when you have both sides to represent themselves, which will be the case with the pro-Russian Abulhawa and voices critical of Russia both represented. But in the case of Abulhawa and El-Kurd’s Israel hatred, which pro-Israel voices are being represented there?
This is a point not lost on South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, a friend of the Jewish people:
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas says it’s important to “get the balance right” when it comes to diversity of opinions, following his decision to boycott the Adelaide Festival Writers’ Week due to anti-Semitism.
“I, for one, don’t particularly like the idea of politicians practicing cancel culture, let alone politicians telling independent festivals they want to celebrate diversity of opinion, what to do,” Mr Malinauskas told Sky News host Chris Kenny.
“That said, I think I’m free to express an opinion and take a strong stance on matters that I feel I have a strong conviction about.
“Whether it be anti-Semitism or, indeed, standing up for Ukraine, so trying to get that balance right is important … but for what it’s worth, I will always advocate for a diversity of opinion.”
Not that Adler considers Abulhawa and El-Kurd to have said anything antisemitic.
“We have a policy of zero tolerance of racism. I’m certainly not someone who would support, both personally and professionally — have never supported — propaganda propagating anti-Semitic or racist ideology or politics,” she said.
“Criticism of Israel is not the same as anti-Semitism, it is not a form of racism. The elision suits particular interest groups to collapse those two distinctions.”
Leaving aside the antisemitic dog whistle inherent in her own suggestion that “The elision suits particular interest groups to collapse those two distinctions,” Abulhawa and El-Kurd have gone well beyond anti-Israel sentiments into antisemitism territory as I have documented. Here’s a reminder, with just some of a plethora of examples:
Louise Adler should know better, especially given the propensity of these two to make Holocaust comparisons.
Louise Adler was born in 1954 in Melbourne to Jacques and Ruth Adler, Jewish immigrants from Paris, France, who arrived in Australia in 1949. Jacques joined the French Resistance in World War II after his own father, Simon Adlersztejn, was rounded up and deported to Beaune-la-Rolande, eventually dying at Auschwitz. Ruth was taken to France as a seven-year-old by her parents fleeing from Nazi Germany.
Updates: I have put the question to Adler. Let’s see if she responds.
Hi @louiseadler. Serious question. Are these tweets from Susan Abulhawa and Mohammed El-Kurd not antisemitic? pic.twitter.com/zpO3g6zZDg
— (((David Lange))) 🇮🇱🇦🇺 (@Israellycool) February 23, 2023
And what about this @louiseadler? Just "criticism of #Israel"? https://t.co/pXohtYsomJ
— (((David Lange))) 🇮🇱🇦🇺 (@Israellycool) February 23, 2023
