Published: 19 March 2026
Last updated: 19 March 2026
The organisers of this year’s Sydney Biennale have given it the theme “Rememory”. It’s a painfully ironic choice because this Biennale is destined to be remembered - as an anti-Israel, anti-Jewish pile-on.
In the months leading up to last week’s opening of Australia’s largest art festival, concerns had been raised about the large proportion of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian artists invited to this year’s event – 40% of the program according to a prominent art critic.
One of them, the Hobart-based artist Feras Shazeen, had posted an image on Instagram that equated Jewish philanthropists, John Gandel and Morry Schwartz, with the leader of the Australian Neo-Nazis. Schwartz resigned from the Biennale board late last year ahead of the appointment of Hoor Al Qasimi as Artistic Director.
Last year, in a previous role as Artistic Director of the Sixth Aichi Triennale in Nagoya, the Emirati-born Al Qasimi spoke to the media wearing a T-shirt with the word “Palestine” across it. She went on to denounce “genocide” in Gaza, and thundered against “colonialism and occupation”.
These incipient fears about the Biennale were ratcheted up to another level at the opening night party last Friday when American pro-Palestinian DJ Haram let loose a tirade that attacked those trying to silence dissent as the “Zio-Australian-Epstein empire”. She then led party guests in a chant of “long live the resistance”. Her remarks have triggered a NSW police investigation into potential breaches of racial hate laws.
Comments5
Joni Kicksley27 March at 01:56 am
I have a theory. Having studied White Supremacy for nearly 20 years I believe we’re experiencing Narcissistic Rage on a World Scale. Every feature of a child hurting Zionist or Pro-IDF ticks the box. Greater Israel thinkers; love to be centre of attention, love chaos, love destroying families, no insight, no empathy, flip the script and turn themselves into victims, no critical thinking, and spewing hate, crazy making. I’m calling it a Collective Contagion of Cluster B White Supremacists. The ferocity and venom of Narcissistic Rage fits the picture about white. I mean about right.
Mark Ian22 March at 10:18 pm
The Hamas -Hezbollah -Iranian -Marxist Human Rights model is counter and a sworn enemy of all the Human Rights Democracies with all their imperfections . The Writers Festival has many ideologies in which Hate Barbarism and Atrocity are defended and Balanced Humane Peace is Ignored and Rejected .
Jeni Mawter20 March at 07:07 am
I have one more theory. You know about The Manosphere, a collection of online sites to promote misogynistic masculinity and oppose Feminism… I believe there is a Jewosphere, a collection of online activity across the World aimed at opposing and destroying everything Jewish
Cara20 March at 02:50 am
Art has always been political, reflecting the artist’s environment, lived experiences and views but now it’s become yet another space in which pro-Palestinian voices, including a Jewish artist, are silenced with false claims of antisemitism. Those claims were proven false by reviews from attendees who saw little actual criticism of Israel. We need to stop those trying to censor any opinion that isn’t 100% pro-Israel.
Jeni Mawter19 March at 10:16 am
I have a theory. Having studied Narcissistic Personality Disorders for nearly 20 years I believe we’re experiencing Narcissistic Rage on a World Scale. Every feature of a Palestinian Protester or Antisemitism ticks the box. Black/White thinkers; love to be centre of attention, love chaos, love to be part of a cult, no insight, no empathy, flip the script and turn themselves into victims, no critical thinking, and a spewing hate, crazy making. I’m calling it a Collective Contagion of Cluster B Personality Disorders. The ferocity and venom of Narcissistic Rage fits the picture perfectly.