Their presence is sparking local, national, and international attention | David Penberthy

A year on from SA opening its heart to Ukrainians, Writers Week is giving a platform to those who think this inexcusable invasion is their fault, writes David Penberthy.

After Russia launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine last February, Adelaide was one of many cities in the civilised world which opened its heart to the women and children displaced by the war.

In April my parents and I were honoured to attend The Advertiser’s welcome lunch at the Arkaba Hotel for a few dozen Ukrainian refugees. Premier Peter Malinauskas spoke, as did the then lord mayor Sandy Verschoor. And a young Ukrainian woman gave a harrowing account of the days she and her family had just spent fleeing after the bombings began.

It was, needless to say, a sombre occasion with these poor people all in a state of shock at what had happened to their nation overnight.

Their despair was compounded by the fact that so many had sons and brothers who could not leave Ukraine on account of having to take up arms to defend their country.

How strange that a year on our premiere arts festival is about to give a platform to someone who thinks this inexcusable war is pretty much the fault of the Ukrainian people themselves for electing a democratic government that dared float the idea of joining NATO to shield itself against Russian expansionism.

Palestinian activist, poet and journalist Mohammed el-Kurd.

It is not just Ukrainians who have concerns about the line-up at next month’s Adelaide Festival Writers Week.

Many Jewish Australians are also distressed about what they see as an unyielding bias against the state of Israel, and even the Jewish people themselves, in the program.

The two people attending Writers Week who have caused the concern are the Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa and Palestinian poet Mohammed el-Kurd.

They are attending separate sessions, which aside from corporate sponsorships and philanthropy, is heavily subsidised by taxpayers through annual payments by the state government to the Adelaide Festival Corporation.

Both are being paid for their appearances with that money.

Ms Abulhawa is a strident critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom she has described as “a depraved Zionist trying to ignite World War III”.

She has written several tweets saying the war is Ukraine’s fault for trying to join NATO.

“This man is no hero. He’s mad and far more dangerous than Putin,” Ms Abulhawa wrote of Zelensky on Twitter last year one month after Russia started the war.

Mr el-Kurd is regarded as a gifted poet. I am not familiar with his work but would say that whatever charms he has as a poet do not extend to his qualities as a tweeter.

On social media, El-Kurd has authored a toxic stream of tweets which by any reasonable measure stray from critiques of the state of Israel and sound like incitement and abuse. He has described Zionists as “sadistic” and a “death cult”, accused them of “lusting” for Palestinian blood, and repeatedly compared Israel to the Nazi regime whose genocide led to the creation of the Jewish state.

His assessment of Israel is shared by Ms Abulhawa, who has written “It’s possible to be Jewish and a Nazi at the same time” and described Israel as “the only ‘nation’ that systematically kidnaps and tortures children daily”.

Author Susan Abulhawa.

The presence of the pair in Adelaide is sparking local, national, and international attention. I spoke this week to Association of Ukrainians president Frank Fursenko, who said the local community held a meeting about the issue this week and wants an explanation from festival organisers as to why Ms Abulhawa is a guest here, expressing concern that a platform is being given to someone who appears to be “apologists for the Russian invasion of Ukraine”.

Mr Fursenko said that her comments appear to “dovetail perfectly with Russian propaganda.”

So too the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, and in New York, the Anti-Defamation League, whose senior vice president Marina Rosenberg had this to say in a letter the ADL sent to Adelaide Festival Corporation chief executive Kath Mainland this week.

“(Mr el-Kurd) regularly equates Israel and Israeli with Nazis. Aside from being inaccurate this language is extremely offensive, trivialises the Holocaust and plays into the demonisation of Jews.”

Just to be clear, I am not writing this as some slavish supporter of Israel. I think the Palestinian people have been dealt a poor hand by history, that the Israeli state invites a tough level of scrutiny, and that the Palestinian people deserve their own state.

But what Mr el-Kurd provides isn’t civilised discourse around these topics.

Rather it is dehumanising abuse framed around throwing history’s greatest act of genocide in the face of those who suffered from it.

Writers Week this year is being directed by Louise Adler, a giant of Australian publishing who at Melbourne University Publishing released books by left wingers and conservatives alike.

In her career, she could not be accused of being a pamphleteer.

But I would question whether she has crafted a program that fulfils the promise of diversity of thought.

I spoke to her on Wednesday and she had this to say: “We hear a lot of talk about ‘safe spaces’ and that’s not what a writers festival should be about. We should encourage a diversity of opinion and create a brave space, a courageous space”.

It sounds great, only the reverse is true.

There are about 10 people speaking at Writers Week, all of whom have the exact same view on the Palestinian cause. Rather than create a “brave” space, this is the safest space of all.

To that end, next month’s Writers Week might be the perfect reflection of public discourse in 2023.

An open invitation to people who act like pigs on Twitter, on a stage filled with people who all passionately agree with each other, unprepared to be confronted by those who don’t.