‘Extremely troubling’: Taxpayer dollars bankrolling artists who praise Hamas

Government grants are bankrolling artists who have gone on to glorify terrorists including one who claimed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was a better leader than Anthony Albanese.

EXCLUSIVE

The government agency in charge of handing out sought after taxpayer dollars to talented artists has been awarding grants to people now promoting pro-Hamas content.

Analysis of hundreds of grants handed out by the agency from 2018 to 2024 has revealed the Australia taxpayer has been footing the bill for several artists who are now sharing content glorifying terrorists like slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

Most of the analysis looked at grants from government agency Creative Australia but the analysis also looked into academic grants provided by government agencies.

Among the recipients was Karen Wyld who pocketed $94,000 from taxpayers through Creative Australia grants and has shared a series of posts glorifying Sinwar including one post calling him a “legend” and another calling him a martyr.

Creative Australia’s publicly available database shows Ms Wyld received $5,000 in 2023, another $42,600 in conjunction with another applicant the same year and $47,230 in 2022.

A billboard depicting Hamas' slain leader Yahya Sinwar with the Arabic slogan "if Sinwar departs from the battlefields, Palestine will birth a thousand Sinwars". Picture: AFP

“Yahya Sinwar was martyred, and a million Sinwars were born in the hearts of our resistors and children!” ,“ a post she re-shared said.

Another post shared by her read: “He fought the Spawn of Satan to the very last breath. Die like Sinwar.”

In her own words, Ms Wyld described Anthony Albanese as a “settler” and said Sinwar was “a better leader than you’ll ever be.”

“He was a brave warrior to the end. Resistance fighter, leader with vision, sovereign Indigenous man,” she wrote on X.

Another grant recipient, Hayley Millar Baker took home $91,020, and has a slew of controversial posts related to the Israel-Hamas war.

She received two grants in 2024 according to the same database, totalling $40,000.

In 2022, she also received two grants of $25,670 and $4,500 in 2022 and another $20,850 the year prior.

One post she reshared praised Sinwar: “They thought our leaders were like them, sending young men to die while they lavish in comfort and abundance. But they found Yehya Sinwar (sic) a martyred soldier fighting on the front lines with his men. He was an indigenous son of the land.”

Another post she reshared said “Palestinians have every right to do whatever they did on October 7” referencing the slaughter of 1200 Israelis.

Recipients of taxpayer funded grants have made comments glorifying terrorist Yahya Sinwar.

Recipients of taxpayer funded grants have made comments glorifying terrorist Yahya Sinwar.

The pattern of government grants going to pro-Palestine activists goes beyond just Creative Australia, with academic grants worth more than a million dollars awarded to a controversial academic who was lashed by her employer for organising a “kids excursion” to Sydney University’s pro-Palestine encampment.

Randa Abdel-Fattah received more than $1m between 2018 and 2024 in research grants from other agencies.

She also received a smaller grant of $2,500 from Creative Australia.

She has reshared posts glorifying slain Sinwar, others talking about the “one state solution” and called terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah “collateral damage” in “Israel’s policy” of “targeting” civilians.

The revelations come after it was revealed Arts Minister Tony Burke had appointed an artist who accused Israel of “a holocaust” to the prestigious Council of the National Gallery of Australia.

Recipients of taxpayer funded grants have made comments glorifying terrorist Yahya Sinwar.

The artist, Abdul Rahman Abdullah, has since stepped down from the role.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said Australians should be “outraged” by this use of taxpayer dollars.

“The government spends millions to restore social cohesion while funding individuals who shattered it in the first place,” he said.

“There must be an urgent review into these grants and close scrutiny of how these scandalous decisions were made and how we can protect our society and our tax dollars from such abuses.”

Coalition Arts spokesman Paul Fletcher said the statements were “extremely troubling” and called on Mr Burke to take “urgent action”.

“It is extremely troubling to see statements by several recipients of Creative Australia funding celebrating slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a terrorist and mass murderer,” he said.

Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for the Arts Tony Burke. Picture: Richard Dobson

“Many Australian taxpayers would be rightly horrified that their money has been used to provide funding to people holding such extreme views.

“Arts Minister Tony Burke cannot stand by and do nothing. He must take urgent action to find out how this happened and to prevent it happening again.”

Mr Burke’s office directed queries to Creative Australia as they are an independent agency.

The government-owned agency said information on their database was accurate.

In a statement they said they fund artists on “creative merit and impact” and not “personal views or statements of the artists or organisations we fund”.

“Personal views or statements made by individual artists are their own and do not reflect the position of Creative Australia,” they said.

“There are laws in place that provide the parameters in which people may express opinions, and we require people who receive our funding to operate within the law.”

Ms Wyld, Ms Adbel-Fattah and Ms Baker were contacted for a response.

Originally published as ‘Extremely troubling’: Taxpayer dollars bankrolling artists who praise Hamas