Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Adelaide Writers' Week, a premier literary event in Australia, was canceled after most of the writers dropped out in protest of the festival's decision to disinvite a Palestinian-Australian author.
Last week, the Adelaide Festival board announced that Randa Abdel-Fattah, a critic of Israel's war in Gaza, was disinvited "given her past statements."
"Whilst we do not suggest in any way that Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah's or her writings have any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, given her past statements we have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi," the Jan. 8 statement said.
On Dec. 14, two men shot and killed 15 people at Bondi Beach in Sydney during a Hanukkah celebration. One of the shooters was killed on the scene. The surviving shooter was arrested and charged. Since then, Australia has been cracking down on anti-Semitism and hate speech.
Following Abdel-Fattah's ousting, 180 writers and four board members quit the festival, which was scheduled for Feb. 27-March 15. Writers' Week is part of the broader Adelaide Festival. The three remaining board members, the chair and Writers' Week director Louise Adler resigned. Adler announced her resignation in Guardian Australia. "I cannot be party to silencing writers," The Guardian reported she wrote.
