Law firm MinterEllison pulls branding from Writers’ Week over anti-Jewish authors

Top national law firm MinterEllison has removed the firm’s branding from the Adelaide Festival Writers’ Week despite being a major sponsor.

MinterEllison chief executive Virginia Briggs says the national law firm has removed its sponsorship branding from Writers’ Week and the Adelaide Festival. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

National law firm MinterEllison has dropped its major sponsor branding from the Adelaide Festival Writers’ Week and other events over the program’s inclusion of two authors known for their open hatred of Jews.

It joins growing calls for Writers’ Week to ban anti-Semitic Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd and Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa, who has also openly backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa. Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images.

Palestinian activist, poet, and journalist Mohammed El-Kurd.

Festival chief executive Kath Mainland confirmed on Tuesday that MinterEllison had requested its name and logo be removed from Writers’ Week programs, banners and other associated events.

Jewish and Ukrainian organisations last week called to ban El-Kurd, whose tweets repeatedly call for the torture and death of Jews, and Abulhawa, who has labelled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “depraved Zionist”.

While MinterEllison has not pulled its funding from the Festival, it is believed the firm is considering it be moved from Writers’ Week to other parts of the event.

MinterEllison chief executive Virginia Briggs said it had recently been made aware of Abulhawa and El-Kurd’s involvement in Writers’ Week and public statements they had made.

“We do not agree with those views. We have strongly expressed our reservations to Festival,” Ms Briggs said.

“We sought the Festival’s assurances that no racist or anti-Semitic commentary should be tolerated as part of Mr El-Kurd’s or Ms Abulhawa’s or any other festival session. “Notwithstanding, we have made the decision … to remove our presence and involvement.”

Ms Briggs also said the firm would not be attending any Festival events.

MinterEllison has numerous Jewish employees who are believed to be unhappy with its sponsorship of Writers’ Week and Ms Briggs had also received formal complaints from the Zionist Federation of Australia and Executive Council of Australian Jewry, The Australian reported.

Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa. Picture: Chase Burkett

Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd. Picture: Supplied by Adelaide Festival

Abulhawa has labelled President Zelensky a “depraved Zionist with a house on stolen Palestinian land” and said “This clown is trying to ignite World War III”.

She has also written on Twitter that Zelensky is “mad and far more dangerous than Putin” while backing the Russian president’s call to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

El-Kurd has described Zionists on Twitter as being “sadistic” and accused Jews of having “an unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood & land”.

He also tweeted that Israeli police who used horses to break up a Palestinian protest were “pigs” and “terrorists”.

“I hope every one of them dies in the most torturous & slow ways. I hope that they see their mothers suffering (not that these conscienceless pigs would care),” El-Kurd wrote.

“I hope these terrorists get what they deserve tenfold.”

Adelaide Festival chief executive Kath Mainland. Picture: Sarah Walker

Louise Adler is the director of Writers’ Week. Picture: Kristoffer Paulsen

Ms Mainland said MinterEllison had been in partnership with the Festival for the past five years.

“While we are disappointed by their decision to remove branding from Adelaide Writers’ Week and Adelaide Festival events, we also respect their choice to do so,” Ms Mainland said.

“Adelaide Festival places a focus on providing an opportunity for civil dialogue and the contest of ideas. We fervently believe in the importance of enabling and facilitating the freedom to express ideas that might be challenging or confronting, while always remaining respectful.”

Senior Adelaide Jewish community leader Norman Schueler, a former president of the SA Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, applauded MinterEllison’s decision.

Mr Schueler said Writers’ Week organisers should have checked Abulhawa and El-Kurd’s social media postings and decided against inviting them long before its program was released.

“They are of equal evilness,” Mr Schueler said of the two authors’s tweets.

“I’ve no doubt that the Festival has a number of highly paid people whose responsibility it is to mine data about forthcoming artists, so they are not caught with their pants down as they have been in this case,” he said.

“The board has abrogated its duties and it has been deficient in its administration of taxpayer funds.”

Both Premier Peter Malinauskas and the state’s Opposition have condemned Abulhawa and El-Kurd’s involvement at Writers’ Week and vowed to boycott their sessions.

“I applaud the fact the Premier is going to not attend that part of Writers’ Week, nor is the Opposition, and they are leading by example,” Mr Schueler said.

Last week, Writers’ Week director Louise Adler said she would not remove El-Kurd or Abulhawa from its program.

“I don’t want us to be party to cancel culture,” Ms Adler said.