Sally Rooney vows to use BBC royalties to fund Palestine Action

Telegraph

14 hours ago

Sally Rooney has vowed to use money from the BBC to fund the proscribed terror organisation Palestine Action.
The novelist said the police should investigate the corporations and the high-street stores that stock and promote her work if they believe she is committing an act of terrorism.
Membership and support of Palestine Action, including funding, can carry sentences of up to 14 years in prison after the group was banned by the Government in July.
The Normal People author made the comments in the Irish Times, noting that it would be illegal for her to publish them in a British newspaper.
She said she felt compelled to publicly express her support after 'more than 500 peaceful protesters' were arrested for doing the same in a single day on Aug 9.
'If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it,' she wrote.
'My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets.
'In recent years the UK's state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels, and therefore regularly pays me residual fees.
'I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.
'If the British state considers this 'terrorism', then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC.'
The BBC and WH Smith have been contacted for comment.
Ms Rooney said that 'to ensure that the British public is made aware of my position, I would happily publish this statement in a UK newspaper – but that would now be illegal'.
She has previously expressed her support for the group in a witness statement handed to London's High Court, where the decision to proscribe the group is being challenged by one of its founders.
The Irish author has now accused Sir Keir Starmer's government of stripping its citizens of 'basic rights and freedoms' to protect its relationship with Israel.
The ramifications are 'profound' and 'an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public', she said.
Palestine Action was proscribed by the Home Secretary after activists allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and vandalised two military aircraft, causing £7m of damage.
Ms Rooney, whose novels Normal People and Conversations with Friends have been adapted into BBC dramas, noted that the decision puts it on the same footing as al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
This means that 'even a simple placard or T-shirt' expressing support is now 'a serious terror offence under UK law', she wrote.
In the six weeks since the ban, the Metropolitan Police have arrested more than 700 people for supporting the group.
The force said a further 60 people will be prosecuted for support of Palestine Action, while Norfolk Police said on Saturday that 13 people were arrested at a protest in Norwich.
Ms Rooney pointed out that those arrested include an Irish citizen and a woman in Belfast.
She described the arrest by PSNI officers as 'political policing', noting that the force made no arrests after a mural for the proscribed Ulster Volunteer Force, 'responsible for the murders of hundreds of civilians', was repainted in north Belfast last year.
She said: 'Palestine Action, proscribed under the same law, is responsible for zero deaths and has never advocated the use of violence against any human being.
'Why then are its supporters arrested for wearing T-shirts, while murals celebrating loyalist death squads are left untouched?'
Ms Rooney also questioned why the Irish Government, which has stated that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine, has remained silent when its citizens have been arrested 'for protesting an acknowledged genocide'.