He got sacked for 'questionable' and 'ambiguous' art. Those descriptors show he is the man for the job
And yet anxiety over possible divisiveness seems to have been the guiding emotional principle applied by the board of Creative Australia, the government's main arts body, when it abruptly sacked Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi and his curator Michael Dagostino as Australia's representatives at the prestigious Venice Biennale next year.
The board, which this week reinstated the duo in a spectacular backflip, originally said it acted to avoid the erosion of public support for Australia's artistic community that might ensue from a 'prolonged and divisive debate'.
It is assumed that a prolonged and divisive debate about an artwork is a bad thing, but it doesn't have to be.
To be fair, the board's anxieties were well-founded.
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It was February 2025 and a caravan full of explosives had been discovered in north-west Sydney. This incident was quickly labelled an anti-Jewish terror plot but was later revealed to be a 'criminal con job'. The Peter Dutton-led Coalition was hammering the Albanese government (then behind in the polls) for being soft on antisemitism. Horrific pictures of burnt and maimed Gazan children aired on television nightly. Jewish-Australians were encountering antisemitism in their day-to-day lives. Pro-Palestine and pro-Israel forces were demonstrating on the streets and clashing in arts organisations.
Sabsabi, stridently pro-Palestine Lebanese-Australian, had made clear his view on Israel when he decided to boycott the 2022 Sydney Festival because it took $20,000 in funding from the Israeli Embassy.
His boycott was well before the horror of the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas on innocent Israelis, a day of rape, torture, kidnapping and slaughter from which more and more horror has unspooled.
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Perth Now
25 minutes ago
- Perth Now
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News.com.au
3 hours ago
- News.com.au
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The Advertiser
3 hours ago
- The Advertiser
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Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than two million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins. At least 15 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, according to local health officials, as US President Donald Trump says he expects Hamas to respond to his "final proposal" for a ceasefire in Gaza in the next 24 hours. Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an air strike on a tent encampment west of the city early on Friday, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Later on Friday, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight. "The ceasefire will come, and I have lost my brother? There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was among those killed. Trump earlier said it would probably be known in 24 hours whether Hamas has accepted a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and Israel. On Tuesday, the president announced that Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalise a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties would work towards ending the war. Hamas, which has previously declared it would only agree to a deal for a permanent end to the war, has said it was studying the proposal, but given no public indication whether it would accept or reject it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is yet to comment on Trump's ceasefire announcement. While some members of his right-wing coalition oppose a deal, others have indicated their support. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group has refused to discuss. In Tel Aviv, families and friends of hostages held in Gaza were among demonstrators who gathered outside a US embassy building on US Independence Day, calling on Trump to secure a deal for all of the captives. Demonstrators set up a symbolic Shabbat dinner table, placing 50 empty chairs to represent those who are still held in Gaza. Banners hung nearby displaying a post by Trump from his Truth Social platform that read, "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" The Sabbath, or Shabbat, observed from Friday evening to Saturday nightfall, is often marked by Jewish families with a traditional Friday night dinner. The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than two million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins. At least 15 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, according to local health officials, as US President Donald Trump says he expects Hamas to respond to his "final proposal" for a ceasefire in Gaza in the next 24 hours. Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an air strike on a tent encampment west of the city early on Friday, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Later on Friday, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight. "The ceasefire will come, and I have lost my brother? There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was among those killed. Trump earlier said it would probably be known in 24 hours whether Hamas has accepted a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and Israel. On Tuesday, the president announced that Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalise a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties would work towards ending the war. Hamas, which has previously declared it would only agree to a deal for a permanent end to the war, has said it was studying the proposal, but given no public indication whether it would accept or reject it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is yet to comment on Trump's ceasefire announcement. While some members of his right-wing coalition oppose a deal, others have indicated their support. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group has refused to discuss. In Tel Aviv, families and friends of hostages held in Gaza were among demonstrators who gathered outside a US embassy building on US Independence Day, calling on Trump to secure a deal for all of the captives. Demonstrators set up a symbolic Shabbat dinner table, placing 50 empty chairs to represent those who are still held in Gaza. Banners hung nearby displaying a post by Trump from his Truth Social platform that read, "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" The Sabbath, or Shabbat, observed from Friday evening to Saturday nightfall, is often marked by Jewish families with a traditional Friday night dinner. The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than two million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins. At least 15 Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, according to local health officials, as US President Donald Trump says he expects Hamas to respond to his "final proposal" for a ceasefire in Gaza in the next 24 hours. Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an air strike on a tent encampment west of the city early on Friday, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Later on Friday, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight. "The ceasefire will come, and I have lost my brother? There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was among those killed. Trump earlier said it would probably be known in 24 hours whether Hamas has accepted a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and Israel. On Tuesday, the president announced that Israel had accepted the conditions needed to finalise a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which the parties would work towards ending the war. Hamas, which has previously declared it would only agree to a deal for a permanent end to the war, has said it was studying the proposal, but given no public indication whether it would accept or reject it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is yet to comment on Trump's ceasefire announcement. While some members of his right-wing coalition oppose a deal, others have indicated their support. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group has refused to discuss. In Tel Aviv, families and friends of hostages held in Gaza were among demonstrators who gathered outside a US embassy building on US Independence Day, calling on Trump to secure a deal for all of the captives. Demonstrators set up a symbolic Shabbat dinner table, placing 50 empty chairs to represent those who are still held in Gaza. Banners hung nearby displaying a post by Trump from his Truth Social platform that read, "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" The Sabbath, or Shabbat, observed from Friday evening to Saturday nightfall, is often marked by Jewish families with a traditional Friday night dinner. The war began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military assault has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, while displacing most of the population of more than two million, triggering widespread hunger and leaving much of the territory in ruins.
