Lobby pressure in spotlight after festival capitulates
A prominent Jewish writer says the suppression of criticism of Israel is increasing levels of anti-Semitism as a major national festival “capitulates” and cancels its event.
The Adelaide Festival has canceled its Writers’ Week event following a mass boycott of writers in response to the exclusion of Palestinian-Australian novelist Randa Abdel-Fattah from the programme.
In announcing her resignation, director Louise Adler said that the “excessive and oppressive” efforts of pro-Israel lobbyists were behind the board’s decision, which undermined freedom of expression.
Dr Abdel-Fattah has been targeted by conservative Jewish groups for posting posts criticizing Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Independent journalist and author Antony Loewenstein, who sits on the advisory committee of the Jewish Council of Australia and regularly attends the Adelaide event, said such lobbying moves were a “familiar pattern”.
“What concerns me most is that such actions worsen antisemitism, because what many people see, and I’m talking about non-Jews here, is that often secret, powerful, in my view bigoted, powerful forces try to silence or silence critical voices,” he told AAP.
“This leads to very unfortunate stereotypes about Jews, and that’s something I worry about as a Jew.”
The Adelaide Festival is not the first organization to face harsh backlash after a critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza was suspended from the platform.
A similar boycott occurred at the 2025 Bendigo Writers Festival; More than 50 writers and moderators boycotted the event over concerns that the code of conduct would stifle discussion of Israeli bombing; a co-curator, Dr. He argued that he was the subject of a lobbying campaign to remove Abdel-Fattah.
The ABC unlawfully dismissed journalist Antoinette Lattouf for sharing a post about the conflict in Gaza and was fined $150,000 as a result.
A Federal Court judge found the ABC had “caved in” to a coordinated email campaign against Ms Lattouf by pro-Israel lobbyists, sacrificing her for bogus reasons.
Speaking on Dr Abdel-Fattah’s sacking, Ms Lattouf called on the media to “set their eyes on Gaza” rather than “producing debates designed to be exhausting and distracting”.
“It is both surprising and disheartening to watch institutions continue to bow to pro-Israel lobby pressure as the genocide intensifies, ceasefire violations pile up and Australian democracy is strained by efforts to silence criticism of these attacks,” he told AAP.
Former president Judy Potter will return as chair of the new Adelaide Festival board after previous board members resigned amid writers’ festival drama.
“It’s been a very challenging week… as a state we really need to embrace the Adelaide Festival,” South Australian Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said.
Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas has been criticized by the Greens and arts commentators for Dr Dr, a claim denied by the Labor prime minister. He was accused of pressuring the board to rescind the invitation to Abdel-Fattah.
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