Festival of hate

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A Queensland folk festival turned into a shopfront for pro-Palestine supporters, creating a toxic environment for Jewish stallholders and patrons.

The Woodford Folk Festival has been held annually on a rural property 7 km from the town of Woodford, and over 70 km north of Brisbane.

It started in 1994 and runs from December 27 to January 1, attracting over 130,000 visitors

The Woodford Folk Festival is usually an event where people enjoy music, dance, art, culture, the natural environment and workshops, but this year’s event was anything but that for Jewish people.

President of the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies (QJBD), Jason Steinberg, said the Woodford Festival was a hotbed of antisemitism.

He told J-Wire: “Jewish and non-Jewish attendees were met by anti-Israel speeches, chants and signs calling for a boycott of Israeli vendors at the festival.

Stallholders and artists were left unchecked and free to spew their hate, individuals were harassed, and Jewish businesses were vandalised.

He added: “We’ve had more than 20 members of the community, many of them long-time attendees at the event, reach out to us to provide testimonies on how distressed they were at the festival.

What is usually a wonderful event on the Queensland cultural calendar was overrun by pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel activists that instilled fear.”

In December 2023, the QJBD wrote to Woodford organisers, raising community concerns about the antisemitic behaviour of one of the festival speakers, Jonathan Sriranganathan.

Mr Steinberg said organisers had done nothing to prevent antisemitism raging during the festival or ensure civil discourse and respectful engagement of attendees.

He said: “There were also groups of people gathering with flags, posters and wearing Keffiyeh, then parading around the festival making Jewish people feel unsafe.

Woodford is a festival that receives corporate, state and federal government funding, and all those stakeholders should be asking why a festival that promotes inclusivity unashamedly created an environment of division and exclusion.

The organisers of the Woodford Festival should issue an apology to all Jewish and Israeli attendees, offer to refund their tickets and ensure their next event is a welcoming environment for everyone, including Jews.”

How does it feel to be a Jew in a toxic environment?

Read the words for those who experienced Woodford.

Imogene – non Jewish/non Israeli

 “I’m a regular attendee at Woodford Folk festival and have worked there multiple times. This festival holds a very special place in my heart and is definitely considered to be one of my favourite festivals in Australia. However, I was really disappointed this year from the insensitivity towards the large Israeli and Jewish community who have supported this festival for many, many years.

“I understand that this art and musical festival always has a hint of politics, however, this year’s festival was heartless and very inappropriate. It was incredibly unfair towards the Jewish community to have people protesting about Gaza and Palestine with signs like ‘From the river to the sea Palestine will be free’ during such a sensitive time. In festivals you should feel a sense of belongingness, instead people were parading the extinction of Israel with no real understanding of the depth of their words. There were groups of people gathering at the village green with flags, posters and wearing Keffiyeh (which is culturally inappropriate in itself) then parading this around the festival. People even put ‘Free Palestine’ stickers on Israeli food trucks and signs. Can you feel the suffocation?  Musicians and artists praying for the people in Gaza with no remorse or prayers towards Israelis who are sitting right in front of them – absolutely heartbreaking!”

Imogene shared that throughout the festival her Jewish friends came up to her in tears and shared how unsafe they felt – in a festival that should be bringing nothing but love and light, she said.

“After the horrific events that happened on 7 October, in particular at the Nova festival, you can imagine the hurdle Israelis and all affected had to overcome to even bring themselves to this festival, to then feel suffocated, unsafe, and to be reminded of these events by people dressing up like the ones who brought this terror in the first place.

“While I love this festival and all that goes into it, I was very disappointed and disheartened from the large number of beautiful people who were torn apart from all of this – including myself.”

Shoval

“I was in front of the main stage and there were approximately 50 people there with Palestinian flags. I talked to security. The people were there for about 1 hour. Talking about how Israel is committing genocide on Palestinians.”

“Another situation, which happened on the same day, next to Luna, there was a lot of people showing their support for Palestinians. At first, I thought not to go and provoke – not to disrupt the energy. Then I thought if they are there, I should be able to speak to them so I went and spoke with them. They don’t understand. They are only sharing what’s in the media. I talked to them for about 40 minutes. You can’t convince them because they are anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. Some were wearing keffiyeh. A Lebanese guy joined in the conversation. He said how every Arab who walks on the road in Israel gets shot. Complete lies.

“My girlfriend and friend went to one of the festival shows. There was a lady singer who started to talk about occupation and put a Palestinian flag in front of the stage and started talking about Gaza.

“Another situation was when we went to see a band called Aphrodisiac performing on Luna stage (on 28 December) and they started to sing. I was sitting next to the stage – they were performing a few songs. Then they stopped after a few songs, “Yeah, what’s happening in Gaza is just horrible, we don’t want to say things because if we do  they will be considered antisemitic – I want to say things but feel if I say those things … “ We Israelis were in shock. They received a round of applause from the crowd. Really painful. I decided to talk to the manager because it was painful and hurtful – he [band/singer] decided to put his political thoughts in front of 1000 people.”

Shoval had an unpleasant situation the next day when he felt hounded by a volunteer who wanted to take a photo of him. He felt his security was at risk by this – someone wanting to photograph him.

“I was told the festival was very spiritual, without judgement, be themselves, apparently – when you go you want you feel safe in this environment, when you see Palestinian flags next to Aboriginal flags it’s really hurtful.”

 Ami, 26

“The NOVA is a party I always go to. So many friends sent messages on 7 October. I normally don’t miss that. It is a very special community. We lost a lot of good friends. Luckily, my close group of friends weren’t there because of Simchat Torah [Jewish holiday]. I know many of the victims – people you’ve danced with, spent time with.

“I heard Woodford is an amazing festival. I came for a good time and to work a bit. I didn’t expect to experience what I did there. I went there to clear my mind. I went with a friend whose boyfriend was kidnapped then killed in Gaza. Our goal was to clear our minds and leave the city. In Sydney there are lots of pro-Palestinian protests so I wanted to go to nature. Going there [to Woodford] was very triggering. The irony: People have no idea what they’re talking about. One girl on stage in shorts was holding an Aboriginal and Palestinian flag, yet if she dressed like that in Gaza she would be shot straight away.”

“I understand why they think what they do because they are watching their news. They are hearing a one-sided detailed story.

“When there was a stage with Palestinian flags I walked away. They just had them there. At the circus there were heaps. There was a lot of graffiti with Free Palestine everywhere, in bathrooms.

Ami shares how she had one conversation with a couple who asked about the IDF. They asked if Ami’s friends were happy with the situation – with the war. She said she felt this couple thought Israelis were happy with the war.

“They are just so ignorant and so sure of what they’re saying. I tried to show the good side of Israelis.

“I wear the bracelet that says: Bring them home. I felt a little scared of wearing it. I hoped that people would ask me questions about it. I have mixed feelings [about wearing it]: I’m proud; I don’t want to hide who I am. 

“I think they are giving space for propaganda. They could have done a debate – or no politics. Keep flags out. Don’t put flags on stage and make it a Woodford thing.

“It’s very weird that they [Woodford] let that [Palestinian activity] happen. They should keep it out of Woodford. NO ONE SHOULD FEEL UNSAFE THERE and having that there made us [Israelis/Jews] feel very uncomfortable.”

“Penny” (Didn’t want her real name used)

“As a person who’s been going to Woodford since my early teens, I’ve always found it a place of refuge and felt safe. Each time I’d go to Woodford it felt like coming home.

“Yet, this year was different. It was filled with extremely distressing experiences. It was disheartening to see casual one-sided references to the war in an inflammatory way.”

Penny said she felt particularly uncomfortable with the artist Betty Grumble – making references to Palestinian only being indigenous to the land. She went to a workshop on Indigenous politics – there were several references to the conflict and drawing parallels to Australian colonialism and what’s happening in Gaza.

“Free Palestine” yelled at various shows, followed by great crowd applause.

“Free Palestine” was scrawled on the back of cubicles, and people were wearing Free Palestine t-shirts.

Hagar

 Hagar is 20 years old and has been travelling in Australia for 12 months. She is a Nova festival goer and has many friends who lost their lives on October 7, as well as friends who have fallen while serving in the army in this current war.

She said there were many Palestinian flags and hate speech against Israel. She said it was the first time during her travels in Australia where she encountered such anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish sentiments. She said they had set up a pro-Palestinian stand right in front of the main stage, making comparisons with the Aboriginal causes and the Palestinians as well as telling people how Israel is killing in Gaza – yet never any mention of 7 October.

She went to another show/stage, which also had Palestinian flags everywhere around the stage, and the artist also spoke for Palestine.

There were two food stands run by Israelis and both were targeted with stickers not to buy from the stall. She said seeing all this made her very upset and unable to enjoy herself – she couldn’t dance or feel joy at the festival.

“The people they are supporting killed my friends and reminded me of the horrible events of October 7th. When I finished work I managed to speak to a few of them and I could see they are good people who think they are doing a good thing….when I explained to them our side they were very surprised of the details – they are not aware of them. I think I managed to enlighten four of them, but so many had exposure to all this propaganda and misinformation.

“It is not an experience which I will remember as being good, supporting murder and rape in a modern society and it felt like our side wasn’t heard or given a chance to tell our story. I would like to see a public apology from Woodford organisers.”

She said that when they went to talk to the police they said that there was nothing they could do as it was approved by Woodford organisers.

Amit

Amit is 26 and is travelling and has been working around Australia for three months, before Woodford he hasn’t encountered any such incidents of anti-Israel or antisemitic behaviour in our country.

“There was a very big event in the tent with many speakers and Palestinian flags. There were a lot of people there. I was working so I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I could hear a lot of cheering and clapping from the crowd. That’s how it started after that they set up a stand with pictures of allegedly dead reporters in Gaza.

I went with a friend to the circus tent, and it was also a pro-Palestine washed event. They were saying ‘don’t forget our brothers and sisters are killed in Gaza’ and also ‘from the river to the sea’. We went to the organisers and she said they will look into it.  We felt very uneasy and violated as Israelis.

We sat after work with a few of us (seven young people from Israel) and we all said how deflating and targeted we felt – unwanted and all because we are from Israel. We also showed police a big Palestinian flag over a bridge which made us feel uncomfortable, but they couldn’t do anything about it. The jazz tent also had a Palestinian vibe there as well. After that there was no Palestinian action until the last day.

“It was the first time I felt unwanted and rejected because I am Israeli it was very hard to see the Palestinian flag and very triggering to some of my Israeli friends who have recently lost friends and /or family in the October 7 attack and the war which is ongoing.

“I felt minimised – like someone is pointing a finger at me because of where I am from – similar to what the Jews in Europe must have felt during the Nazi regime.”

Sigal

“I noticed on one of the bridges a big flag saying “Woodford Stands with Palestine”.

Betty Grumble at the Parlor venue at the beginning of her show said “Free Palestine”.  Though as a performer that has lots of followers I thought it was irresponsible of her to do so.

I did come across individuals who told me that Oct 7th is all a conspiracy.

 I went to the festival to recharge after a very difficult four years of my life, especially after the war in Israel.  I was quite disappointed with the number of people who were not open to hear both sides of the story and were very quick to judge and deny Oct 7th and I must say I left the festival with very heavy feeling and as a result I didn’t spend too much time in the festival & stayed a lot in my campground.”

 Yasmin is 26 years old and has been travelling around Australia for two months now

“I left Israel 2 months after the war started. In the first two months I have not experienced any negativity from people here, even the opposite, people who I interacted with were very supportive and understanding in conversations when I told them I am from Israel.

During the Woodford festival I was exposed to the most Palestinian and pro-Palestinian content so far in my trip. On the first day, there were Palestinian flags on the main stage at an event, which made me feel very uneasy and unsafe. They then set up a stand with their propaganda. It was the opposite to feeling welcome and at home; it was very uncomfortable. We tried to talk to the management about our feelings to no avail.

We talked to the police about how this makes us feel but they informed us that the management authorised this.

People at the festival asked me why don’t I go to another country and live there? What they don’t understand is the connection we have to our country, our land. It is where I live, where my cultural heritage is.

“In my eyes,  that flag [Palestinian] is a symbol of Israeli annihilation, which was attempted on 7 October. When I see that flag, I feel my life is in danger. I did not enjoy this festival. I would have liked to have something to represent how we feel and what the Israeli side has been through. It felt like very one-sided opinions and views.”

Alina

“I think this sort of event should be inclusive, not divisive. They promote acceptance – allowing people to be who they want to be. Yet it felt like someone had put a knife in my stomach and twisted it.

People can protest, just not there [at Woodford]. I was feeling connected to the event and I came across the protestors and it was like a punch in the stomach. I couldn’t enjoy anything after that. I felt nauseous. I felt physically nauseous.

It is so frustrating to think how unfair it all is – that we were attacked and then defended ourselves, and now we are being slammed –  attacked; I can’t understand it.”

Mayan is 28 years old and an Israeli travelling in Australia.

She volunteered in the Woodford festival at the main bar and was there the whole week.

Her first experience was when she went to a show and saw the Palestinian flag on the stage: “I was thinking: Wow! What would they think if they knew that I am from Israel, like they were against me and I couldn’t be there? It was very confronting to see it.

“Then there was the stall [Palestinian], and I went and tried to talk to them. There I met other Israelis who were very passionate and arguing with them and we decided to talk to the management and tell them how we feel.

I told them that I feel attacked when I see their flag and what it stands for and why are you taking sides in a conflict that is so far away from your country when you have your own issues here with the Aborigines?… Also where are we (Israelis) supposed to go? I don’t have anywhere to go, no one will take me in. Israel is my home, my country. There were some people who walked past who came and gave me a hug when they could see I was upset and tried to make me feel better.

I went to a show and as I walked in the song the performer was singing “Free Free Palestine”, the whole time, which felt like forever. And I didn’t understand why, how can this take place in a music festival. It felt like everyone there who was in the crowd dancing was turned against me. There was another show whereby the artist was praying for cease-fire while shedding tears, and I could see how the crowd was with him, and it felt like he was using the conflict and the Palestinian cause for his own gain (of popularity or whatnot). I feel just having one side does not show the whole picture or will help bring peace. This one-sided narrative is not the whole complex and difficult problem which we have and does not give any representation to both sides equally.

I feel they are showing they want peace and coexistence, but they are only showing the bad side of Israel and not the people who want a peaceful coexistence. They showed a poster of Bibi in black and white with blood on it – showing Israel as bad and the occupier.

What about the hostages? Are they not a part of this story? If you really want peace, then why not discuss how to achieve peace?”