Kurd was disinvited for making comments against Israel on social media
Pakistan’s renowned journalist and novelist Mohammed Hanif on Tuesday withdrew from a conference to be held by the Goethe Institut in Germany after the organizers canceled the invitation to Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed El-Kurd.
Hanif announced his decision to pull out of the Hamburg conference in a Tweet: “Withdrawing from @goetheinstut’s Hamburg conference where they first invited and then disinvited Palestinian journalist.”
The three-day conference is scheduled to be held in Hamburg from June 23 to June 26 on the theme of, ‘Beyond the Lone Offender — Dynamics of the Global Right’. The German cultural center Goethe Institut had initially invited both Mr. Kurd and Mr. Hanif to the conference to speak about the rise of the global far-right.
El-Kurd dropped for making comments against Israel on social media
However, on June 17, the German cultural centre the organizer relayed its decision about the Palestinian poet arguing, “After some consideration, the Goethe-Institut decided that Mohammed El-Kurd was not an appropriate speaker for this forum: in previous posts on social media, he had made several comments about Israel in a way the Goethe-Institut does not find acceptable.”
Goethe accused of ‘anti-Palestinian racism’
The German cultural center was condemned by people from across the world for disinviting the Palestinian poet. The panel in which the 24-year-old was scheduled to speak was to be hosted by artist Moshtari Hilal and essayist Sinthujan Varatharajah, both based in Berlin.
In response to Goethe’s decision, Hilal and Varatharajah pulled out of the event and denounced the German cultural center. “Our cancellation is in response to Goethe Institute’s attempts to intervene in our curatorial decisions and by way of it, enforce a climate of anti-Palestinian censorship,” they explained.
“Goethe Institute’s veto against El-Kurd calls into question the very purpose of this conference.”
About El-Kurd’s work
The young Palestinian poet, who writes in English, has been vocal about the apartheid. El-Kurd came to prominence in 2021 after resisting Israel’s eviction of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem. His story on his hometown Sheikh Jarrar against the expulsion of the Palestinian living in the area went viral.