The Palestinian DJ says she had an invitation to speak on a “music and resistance” panel. As of Oct 22, ADE had not responded publicly.

Palestinian techno DJ Samaʼ Abdulhadi has withdrawn from Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). She announced the decision in an Instagram statement on Oct 20, Mixmag reports. In that statement, as reported by Mixmag, she says she had an invitation to speak on a panel about “music and resistance.” She also says several artists booked for the festival have served in the Israeli military. Her exit is the second lineup dispute of ADE’s 30th edition, which runs in Amsterdam through Oct 25.

What Samaʼ Abdulhadi said about ADE

In the statement, she said she had “decided not to participate” this week. She explained her reasons in her own words.

“It would be disingenuous for me to talk about resistance while, within the same festival’s framework, a large number of Israeli artists continue to perform internationally as though nothing is happening,” she wrote, as quoted by Mixmag.

However, she also drew a line. She said she is not calling for the exclusion of artists “simply because they are Israeli,” according to Mixmag. Instead, she pointed to artists she says served in the military.

She also asked the wider industry to act. Festivals, promoters and cultural institutions should “make choices about who they platform, whose voices they amplify and what they are willing to associate their names with,” she said.

Mixmag’s report does not name any of the artists she refers to. BEZ has not verified her claim about their military service.

ADE has not responded publicly

As of Oct 22, ADE had not responded publicly, according to Mixmag and ADE’s own channels. We will update this story if ADE comments.

A second lineup dispute this ADE

Her exit follows another lineup story. On Thursday, Oct 15, Interplay Records dropped Russian DJ Alexander Komarov from its label showcase on the ADE programme, NL Times and DutchReview report. That decision came after a message he sent to a Ukrainian DJ surfaced online. Komarov confirmed to Dutch newspaper AD that he sent it, according to NL Times.

That case also showed how ADE works. Labels and collectives book many of the event’s roughly 3,300 artists themselves. “We have no insight into the bookings,” an ADE spokesperson told AD at the time, as quoted by NL Times.

Sources: Samaʼ Abdulhadi’s statement on Instagram (@samaabdulhadiofficial), Oct 20; Mixmag, Oct 21; Samaʼ Abdulhadi Instagram profile; NL Times on Komarov removal, Oct 16; DutchReview on Komarov removal, Oct 16