Furore over free speech

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In South Australia, the Adelaide Festival starts in early February. The Adelaide Writers’ Festival (AWW) was to be held in conjunction with the main event. One of the presenters was to be Palestinian-Australian author, Randa Abdel-Fattah, who has made numerous anti-Israel and anti-Zionist social media posts. The Adelaide Festival Board has cancelled Ms Abdel-Fattah’s appearance at the Writers’ Festival causing over 180 participants to boycott the event. Now, the director of the AWW, Louise Adler, has resigned and the whole event has been cancelled. Ms Adler, herself the daughter of Holocaust survivors and a member of the Jewish Council of Australia's advisory committee, did not support Abdel-Fattah’s exclusion but said it came about after "after pressure from pro-Israel lobbyists, bureaucrats and opportunistic politicians". There is nothing that links the author with the terrorist attack on Bondi Beach. This is a hard one for those governing the country. We’re bringing in tougher gun laws and laws against hate speech but we also advocate free speech. It’s a very fine line they have to tread sometimes. The image is mine.