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For everyone else, free speech is a principle. For Jews, it appears negotiable.

By Ari Ingel

PEN America has quietly retracted its public statement condemning the cancellation of comedian Guy Hochman’s recent speaking engagements. In its original statement, PEN rightly “condemned placing a litmus test on someone to appear on stage,” calling such tests a “profound” violation of free expression and affirming that “shutting down cultural events is not the solution.”

That principled stance did not last.

This reversal is particularly striking given PEN America’s longstanding history of condemning the cancellation of controversial figures across the political spectrum, including music artist Kehlani (on two separate occasions) and political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos. PEN has even defended the right to gather for Moms for Liberty, an organization that actively fuels the book-banning campaigns PEN America claims to oppose.

In these cases, and many others, PEN defended a clear and consistent principle: Free expression must be upheld even when the speech is unpopular, provocative, or deeply offensive to some.

Yet, following internal and external pressure driven by anti-Israel—and, in many cases, overtly antisemitic—activism, PEN reversed itself. In doing so, it abandoned its own stated standards and effectively endorsed the very discrimination it had previously acknowledged as wrong.

The message this sends is unmistakable: PEN America supports free expression, except when Jews are involved. When it comes to Jewish artists and Israeli voices, PEN now appears willing to endorse ideological litmus tests, condemnation, cancellation, and boycotts.

Forcing an artist to renounce their identity, nationality, or presumed political views as a prerequisite is discrimination—plain and simple.

This incident does not stand alone. It follows PEN America’s recent deeply flawed report alleging that Israel intentionally sought to destroy Palestinian culture and education in Gaza, a report reliant largely on information supplied by Hamas, riddled with glaring omissions, and marred by demonstrably false and inflammatory claims.

By downplaying the atrocities and the horrors of Oct. 7 and largely dismissing Hamas’ own actions that led to the current situation in Gaza, PEN America further silenced Israeli and Jewish voices in literature and culture.

That bias is not confined to PEN America alone. It echoes the inherent bias, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism embedded in the recently passed “Resolution on Freedom of Expression in Palestine and Israel” at the 90th PEN International Annual Congress.

Notably, Palestine was granted membership in PEN International, while Israel was rejected, a decision that speaks volumes about whose voices are deemed worthy of protection and whose are excluded.

Compounding this pattern, PEN America forced out its longtime CEO, Suzanne Nossel, after she was labeled a “Zionist” and refused to have the organization publicly declare that Israel was committing genocide. This episode sent a chilling message to Jewish professionals: Adherence to certain political dogmas is now a prerequisite for leadership within the organization.

Taken together, these actions reflect an organization that has lost sight of its mission and gravely undermined its credibility. Art and literature should build bridges and foster dialogue, not be weaponized as tools of division and demonization. Yet this is precisely how PEN America is now operating.

Most concerning of all, these decisions have helped create an increasingly hostile environment for Jewish writers and cultural figures. And when it comes to defending Jewish authors, PEN America has been conspicuously silent.

Over the past two years, planned bookstore appearances by Jewish authors have been canceled, ads for books about Israel have been rejected, book readings have been shut down, literary groups have been targeted, and activists have circulated blacklists of so-called Zionist authors for harassment.

A few examples: PEN America issued no public condemnation of the McCarthy-esque “Is Your Favorite Author a Zionist?” list; no statement objecting to the targeting and cancellation of Gabrielle Zevin based on a presumed political identity; no statement defending the canceled book-launch events of Brett Gelman; no statement condemning the rejection of advertising for Bernard-Henri Lévy’s book; and no statement opposing the boycott of Israeli writers and cultural institutions.

By validating ideological litmus tests, PEN America is declaring that free expression is not a universal right, but a privilege granted only to those who pass the “correct” political screening. That is a shocking precedent for an organization that claims to defend the “freedom of expression.”

Forcing an artist to renounce their identity, nationality, or presumed political views as a prerequisite for participation is discrimination—plain and simple. It is incompatible with the values PEN America claims to uphold.

If PEN America wishes to retain any semblance of credibility as a defender of free expression, it must explain why ideological tests are unacceptable for everyone except Jews and Israelis.

In PEN’s own words, “Ultimately, shutdowns of this nature, however they occur, do little to address hateful speech, but instead contribute to a climate of silencing and self-censorship for artists with a wide range of views.”

Over the past two years, many leaders in the literary and cultural world have attempted to engage PEN’s leadership in good faith. The pattern has been consistent: They listen, offer no meaningful response, and then double down on a hostile anti-Zionist and anti-Israel posture.

In doing so, PEN America has helped legitimize antisemitic discrimination at a moment when antisemitism in the United States is at historic levels. This is not an isolated failure of judgment, but a structural rot in the organization, one that reflects leadership choices, institutional culture, and a governing board that has failed to intervene.

This past week, the organization formalized the leadership of interim co-executives Summer Lopez and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, a move that signals continuity rather than course correction and suggests the organization is unlikely to return to viewpoint-neutral principles anytime soon.

If PEN America is serious about its mission, its board must urgently reevaluate who is running the organization, issue a clear and public apology to the Jewish community, and recommit itself to defending free expression without exception or favoritism.

By Ari Ingel, Executive Director, CCFP

What has unfolded at Adelaide Writers’ Week is not a misunderstanding born of heightened emotions, nor an unfortunate clash of values. It is a systemic failure of judgment, governance and leadership, from top to bottom, and one that has inflicted real harm on Australia’s Jewish community at a moment of vulnerability in the wake of the massacre at Bondi.

To be clear, this did not begin with the decision to disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah. It began with the decision to entrust the leadership of a major national literary institution to a director who had previously supported the boycott of a noted Jewish author, and who has made extremist remarks about the world’s only Jewish state, remarks that echo the language of a modern-day blood libel.

Louise Adler should not have been leading Adelaide Writers’ Week.

Her own public statements — including describing Israel’s actions as “genocidal” and framing scrutiny of extremist anti-Israel rhetoric as a form of McCarthyism — should have been disqualifying, particularly at a time of record levels of antisemitism in Australia.

Her remarks are incompatible with the responsibility of stewarding a major cultural institution that serves a diverse national audience, including a Jewish community for whom Israel is not an abstraction but the historical and national homeland of the Jewish people. A place of refuge.

In her worldview, to support Israel is to be labeled a supporter of genocide — and that framing has consequences.

Once Israel is cast as a Nazi-like state committing the ultimate crime of genocide, Zionism ceases to be a political position and becomes a moral stain. Because approximately 95% of Jews worldwide support Israel in some form, this logic renders Jews everywhere complicit in genocide. Jews are no longer innocent, but supporters and enablers of evil — and therefore legitimate targets.

We all saw the consequences of such language play out on December 14, 2025, at a Hanukkah celebration, when light turned to darkness.

Furthermore, in 2024 Adler supported efforts to have noted Jewish New York Times columnist and award-winning author, Thomas Friedman, disinvited from Adelaide Writers’ Week because of his views on Israel, despite his views often being very critical.

The Friedman incident alone should have prompted serious concern from the board. Combined with Adler’s rhetoric, it should have led to her removal long before this current crisis erupted. That it did not, renders the recently resigned board culpable. Governance is not passive. It requires intervention when leadership fails.

It also goes without saying that Abdel-Fattah should never have been invited to Adelaide Writers’ Week, a failure that further underscores why Adler should have been dismissed rather than permitted to resign.

Abdel-Fattah’s extremist remarks were well known and deeply troubling long before her invitation was issued. She has repeatedly described Zionism — a core component of Jewish identity for the overwhelming majority of Jews — as racism. She has argued that it is a “duty” to deny Zionists cultural safety, language that mirrors the logic historically used to exclude Jews from public life. She has openly called for sanctions against Israel.

Most egregiously, on October 8, 2023 — the day after Hamas carried out the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — Abdel-Fattah posted imagery celebrating the paraglider motif used by Hamas terrorists to infiltrate Israel and massacre over a thousand civilians, as they raped, brutalised and kidnapped innocents. This included the murder of over 350 young people at the Nova music festival, itself a cultural gathering devoted to celebrating life through arts and culture. 

At a time of record levels of antisemitism, and in the immediate aftermath of mass Jewish slaughter, such conduct should have rendered her unfit for a prestigious public platform. The fact that it did not speaks volumes about Adler and the festival itself.

And to be clear, this should not be a debate about censorship. That is how the anti-Israel community has distorted the conversation. This is about the active fomenting of hatred and antisemitism.

Cultural institutions curate. Editors exercise judgment. Festivals decide whom they elevate. Declining to platform someone who has demonstrated open hatred toward a persecuted minority is not censorship; it is common decency.

Indeed, the selective nature of this newfound absolutism on “free speech” exposes the hollowness of the claim.

In 2024, Abdel-Fattah publicly supported a boycott call to have Friedman dropped from Adelaide Writers’ Week, signing onto an open letter to the board.

To the anti-Israel movement, free expression, it seems, is negotiable — depending on the speaker. This double standard is a defining feature of contemporary antisemitism, and now, suddenly, Abdel-Fattah is playing the victim. Palestinianism, in a nutshell.

The subsequent collapse of Writers’ Week and the new board’s response have only compounded the damage. The victims are once again the Jewish community of Australia, yet they are being recast as the aggressors.

Apologies have flowed — but conspicuously not to the Jewish community, which has borne the consequences of this failure. Instead, contrition has been directed toward those whose activism precipitated the crisis, while the community that has experienced a profound sense of betrayal has been left unacknowledged.

That is unacceptable.

The former director, the former board, and the current board all owe Australian Jews a clear, unequivocal apology — not for hurt feelings, but for abandoning their duty of care. For fomenting antisemitism. For creating an environment in which hostility toward Jewish identity was minimised, excused or rationalised. And for doing so at a time when Jews are confronting escalating fear, grief and isolation.

The only thing the board got right was cancelling Writers’ Week, since the rot runs deep and the current board should step down immediately as well.

If Adelaide Writers’ Week cannot operate without eroding the trust of a community that has contributed so profoundly to Australia’s cultural life, then its suspension is not a loss. It is a corrective.

To be clear, Australian Jewry was just targeted again. This is yet another attack in a long line over the past few years in a coordinated effort by a movement to silence the Jews of Australia and push them to the margins — or out of the country altogether.

Until those responsible are willing to reckon with their own failures, no apology — however eloquent — will suffice.

Cover Photo: Asset id: 2565890935 – Adelaide, South Australia, Australia – December 11 2024: Adelaide Convention Centre, on North Terrace, seen across the river Lake Torrens. Low angle view. Copy space in water