NCJWA says feminists backing Abdel-Fattah are “beyond hypocritical”

Australia’s peak Jewish women’s organisation has condemned prominent writers and feminists who withdrew from the Adelaide Writers Festival in support of author Randa Abdel-Fattah.

It accused them of standing with someone who has denied sexual violence against Israeli women.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the National Council of Jewish Women Australia said it was “shocked” that self-described progressive authors had acted in solidarity with Abdel-Fattah following her removal from the festival program, despite her repeated denial and minimisation of mass sexual violence committed during the October 7 Hamas attack.

The organisation said Abdel-Fattah had publicly rejected comparisons between the sexual violence committed during the attack and the #MeToo movement, despite evidence released by Hamas itself and findings from a United Nations report confirming sexual violence against Israeli women.

“It is inexplicable to us, and beyond hypocritical, that supposed feminists are standing in solidarity with a woman who dismissed the mass sexual violence directed against Israeli women,” said NCJWA President Lynda Ben-Menashe.

The Adelaide Festival Board said Abdel-Fattah was removed from the program following an internal review of her past public statements. In a statement, the board said it was not suggesting Abdel-Fattah or her writing had any connection to the Bondi attack but concluded it would “not be culturally sensitive” to proceed with her appearance at the festival, which was scheduled to begin on February 28.

NCJWA also criticised comments attributed to Abdel-Fattah in which she described claims of mass rape as propaganda and accused Zionists of wishing such claims were true, saying such remarks amounted to rape denial.

The statement further accused Abdel-Fattah of advocating the removal of safe spaces for Jewish women in Australia by using the term “Zionists” as a stand-in for Jewish people. It said the overwhelming majority of Jewish women in Australia identified as Zionists in the sense of believing in Jewish self-determination.

The organisation pointed to statements in which Abdel-Fattah said it was a “duty” to ensure that spaces Zionists enter are culturally unsafe, arguing this amounted to a denial of safety to women on the basis of ethno-cultural identity.

“It beggars belief that a rape denier and a denier of safety to women should be deemed worthy of support,” said Ben-Menashe.

NCJWA said the issue was particularly acute following the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi on December 14, which it said shattered the sense of safety for Jewish Australians.

Abdel-Fattah was also involved in a doxing exercise that targeted hundreds of Jewish creatives. In 2023, a spreadsheet circulated online listing the names, employers and affiliations of around 600 Jewish writers, artists and academics, information that critics said placed those named at risk of harassment and intimidation.

While Abdel-Fattah did not compile the list herself she publicly shared and amplified it, defending its purpose, a position rejected by Jewish community groups who said the act of circulating such a document was itself doxing, regardless of who created it.

More than 100 writers have reportedly withdrawn from the Adelaide Writers Festival in protest over Abdel-Fattah’s removal from the program. Today, festival director, Louise Adler said she was resigning, and it was announced that the festival would be cancelled.