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Why has Sally Rooney been warned over supporting Palestine Action - and why did the UK ban it?
AUTHOR SALLY ROONEY could face prosecution in the UK if she delivers on promises to support Palestine Action, a group that the British government has proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Palestine Action is a direct action group that was founded in 2020.
It has been protesting the UK's export of arms to Israel, as well as Israel's war on Gaza and treatment of Palestinians, through actions like demonstrations, building occupations and vandalism of properties it believes to have links to arms sales to Israel.
Hundreds of people have been arrested in the UK since last month for showing their support for Palestine Action since it was designated as a terrorist association.
The move by the government and the plethora of arrests that followed have sparked debate within the UK and internationally about the differences between a social movement versus a terrorist organisation, and about freedoms of expression and assembly.
Rooney, the author of novels including Normal People and Intermezzo hailing from Co Mayo, has indicated that she intends to use proceeds from her work to support Palestine Action, but has been warned she could face consequences.
What did Rooney say, how has the UK government responded, and why did it ban Palestine Action in the first place?
What did Sally Rooney say about Palestine Action?
Writing in the
Irish Times
at the weekend, Rooney said that she supports Palestine Action and its protesting of Israel's violence against Palestine, and that she would use proceeds from her work to support the group.
'If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it,' Rooney said.
'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,' she wrote.
'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.'
She also criticised the Irish government for not standing with Irish activists arrested for supporting Palestine Action in the UK.
Rooney has been an outspoken critic of Israel's war on Gaza and a supporter of freedom for Palestine.
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Nearly two years since October 2023, Israel has around 62,000 people in Gaza, displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and flattened countless homes and buildings.
With Israel strictly limiting the amount of aid allowed in to Gaza, many people are now dying of starvation, including young children.
How has the UK government responded to Rooney?
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was asked in Westminster about Rooney's comments.
They would not comment on her remarks specifically but set out the position that there 'is a difference between showing support for a proscribed organisation, which is an offence under the Terrorism Act, and legitimate protest in support of a cause'.
Asked what Downing Street's position is in relation to anyone considering making donations to Palestine Action, the spokesperson said: 'Support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act and obviously the police will, as they have set out, they will obviously implement the law within the law as you'd expect.'
Why has the UK banned Palestine Action?
Among countries in Europe, the UK has been one of Israel's staunchest allies, including through being an
exporter of arms
to Israel, though it has also recognised the scale of devastation Israel has created in Gaza.
In June, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she was proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the UK's Terrorism Act.
It followed members of the group allegedly breaking into a military airfield and vandalising Royal Air Force (RAF) aircrafts.
Announcing the decision to proscribe it as a terrorist organisation, Cooper said that Palestine Action's activity has 'increased in frequency and severity since the start of 2024 and its methods have become more aggressive, with its members demonstrating a willingness to use violence'.
The UK's Terrorism Act makes it an offence for a person to belong to a proscribed organisation, to show or invite support for such an organisation, to express an opinion or belief that is supportive of it, or to arrange or manage a meeting that involves supporting the organisation, furthering its activities, or hearing from a member belonging to it.
A person found guilty of an offence under the relevant legislation can face imprisonment or a fine, or both.
The UK's decision has received criticism internationally.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk
said that by international standards, understandings of terrorist acts should be 'confined to criminal acts intended to cause death or serious injury or to the taking of hostages, for purpose of intimidating a population or to compel a government to take a certain action or not'.
'It misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism to expand it beyond those clear boundaries to encompass further conduct that is already criminal under the law,' Türk said.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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