WOMADelaide backs Sama' Abdulhadi booking amid Pro-Israel cancellation campaign

Following the ongoing Adelaide Festival controversy, which saw the resignation of board members, the cancellation of Writer’s Week, the director’s resignation and a boycott by more than 150 writers, news has emerged of a campaign to remove Palestinian DJ Sama' Abdulhadi from another festival associate, WOMADelaide.

In contrast to Adelaide Festival’s Writers’ Week, however, WOMADelaide have shared a statement with Kaurna/Adelaide publication InDaily confirming that “there are no changes to the WOMADelaide schedule, and we look forward to Sama' Abdulhadi’s performance.”

First reported earlier this week by Michael West Media and yesterday by Deepcut News, two emails composed on the Activism Mailer platform advocating that Abdulhadi’s performance be cancelled and that her visa be denied appear to have been leaked.

One of these emails is directed to WOMADelaide organisers, South Australian Arts Minister Andrea Michaels, and City of Adelaide councillors.

In it, the sender of the email “urgently requests the removal of Sama Abdulhadi from the 2026 lineup,” based on her “documented history of hateful rhetoric against Israel, Jews, Zionists, and their allies.”

The email’s call to cancel Abdulhadi’s appearance at this year’s WOMADelaide uses similar language and comparisons to the recent justification by Adelaide Festival’s board for cancelling Palestinian-Australian author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah’s appearance at this year’s Adelaide Writers’ Week, openly commending the action within the letter.

It claims that Abdulhadi’s presence at WOMADelaide is “troubling” following the mass shooting on Bondi Beach in December of last year, and calls the two gunmen “a jihadist whose ideology aligns closely with the narratives Abdulhadi promotes.”

Abdulhadi was born in Jordan to a family that had been exiled from Palestine by Israeli forces after her grandmother, a leading women’s rights activist, arranged a sit-in and hunger strike. Her family was allowed to return to Palestine in 1993, and when she was 13, the IDF took over their apartment block, forcing the family to live on the roof.

“The first thing you learn as a Palestinian is that you’re probably going to die,” she told The Guardian in 2023. “You have to engage a little bit extra because life could be over in 10 minutes.”

Abdulhadi’s career has seen her become one of Palestine’s most emblematic artists.

In June of last year, she pulled out of KKR-owned Sónar festival over its “significant holdings in companies that actively support or maintain economic ties with the Israeli state… (including) companies that directly contribute to the occupation and oppression of Palestinians,” Abdulhadi shared at the time.

The second email, addressed to “Ministers, Shadow Ministers and Senators,” directed to Coalition MPs and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, requests the cancellation of Abdulhadi’s visa.

It is worth noting that a variety of words throughout both emails use American spelling, rather than the standardised ‘British’ used by Australians. This includes the spelling of words like “canceled”, “normalizing”, “delegitimize”, “organization”, “sanitizing”, “weaponizes”, “demonize”, “legitimizes” and “hate-fueled”.

While the emails are addressed from "proud Australians", this may suggest otherwise, or indicate they were written using AI.

In a response to Adelaide’s InDaily, a spokesperson for WOMADelaide confirmed that there are “no changes to the WOMADelaide schedule.”

“Artists are invited (to WOMADelaide) to perform on the basis of their musical achievements and contributions to global contemporary culture, not for their political views or affiliations,” the spokesperson shared.

“We are committed to remaining a space that fosters dialogue, understanding, and the free exchange of cultural expression through music and art. We do not endorse or promote the opinions of any artist who performs at the festival. Sama Abdulhadi is internationally recognised as a pioneering female electronic music artist and cultural innovator, and she performs at festivals and music events around the world. Her inclusion reflects WOMADelaide’s commitment to showcasing artists of exceptional talent from a diverse range of countries and genres. The festival maintains clear policies to ensure a welcoming, inclusive, and safe environment for all attendees, regardless of cultural, political, or religious background and will continue to uphold these principles as we celebrate the world’s music, arts and dance traditions, and contemporary voices.”

Adelaide Writers’ Week’s recent controversy has no doubt been impossible for associates of Adelaide Festival to ignore.

Earlier this week, InDaily reported that last year, Adelaide Festival generated $62.6 million in gross expenditure for South Australia, and was a “significant contributor to South Australia’s visitor economy”, according to its 2025 Impact Report. Following the backlash against the festival, that total will no longer enter South Australia’s economy, and arguably, those who campaigned for Dr Abdel-Fattah’s removal will, if they live in South Australia, also feel its consequences.

Though the handling of conversations such as this is something that WOMADelaide has previous experience with.

In 2024, the festival decided to ‘dis-invite’ Palestinian-Jordanian group 47Soul, after previously playing the event in both 2016 and 2018, citing "the degree of protest" and community division in Australia at the time.

Shortly following the announcement, WOMAD apologised, sharing that “unfortunately, sometimes political situations and associated conflicts mean that idealism may be compromised, not least for the sake of public and artist safety.”

47Soul performed at WOMADelaide 2025, the following year.

It is unclear at what level the ongoing controversy surrounding Adelaide Writers’ Week may impact associated events. Yesterday afternoon, Adelaide Festival announced that its Writers’ Week would no longer go ahead in 2026, following a mass withdrawal from writers, commentators, members of its board and Adelaide Writers Week director, Louise Adler.

Read: Musicians Boycott Adelaide Festival in Pro-Palestine Stand as Festival Plunges Into Crisis

Following the announcement, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas appeared emotional in a press conference where journalists pressed him on the cancellation. He has been criticised for his comparison between Abdel-Fattah and “far-right Zionist(s)”, as well as his continued attempt to draw connections between the writer and the Bondi mass shooting.

“Can you imagine if a far-right Zionist walked into a Sydney mosque and murdered 15 people,” Malinauskas said. “Can you imagine that as Premier of this state, I would actively support a far-right Zionist going to Writers’ Week and speaking hateful rhetoric towards Islamic people?”

Last week, he shared that he “made it clear at every juncture that I would not seek to direct the board” in regard to their platforming or cancellation of Abdel-Fattah.

This morning, Abdel-Fattah shared that her lawyers have launched defamation proceedings against Malinauskas over his comments, describing them as a “vicious personal assault.”

Sama' Abdulhadi’s only other currently announced Australian show is the 2026 edition of Pitch Music & Arts. Mixmag ANZ reached out to Pitch’s owner, Untitled Group, for comment on whether they had seen any pressure to remove Abdulhadi from their lineup. Mixmag ANZ did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Mixmag ANZ has reached out to Sama' Abdulhadi for comment.