Sally Rooney is at risk of being arrested after pledging her support for Palestine Action – which was recently proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.
The Irish author, 34, has written the best-selling novels Normal People, Conversations with Friends Beautiful World, Where Are You and Intermezzo (2024).
The first two were adapted into TV miniseries of the same name, both with funding from the BBC.
She has now declared she plans to use the residual fees from the programmes to support Palestine Action – a British pro-Palestinian direct-action network that was founded in 2020 with the goal of ‘ending Israeli apartheid’.
But after activists caused an estimated £7,000,000 of damage to jets at RAF Brize Norton in June, the UK government banned the group. More than 700 people engaging in Palestine Action protests have been arrested since then.
Despite this, Rooney has revealed she will be donating her earnings to support the group.
‘I feel obliged to state once more that – like the hundreds of protesters arrested last weekend – I too support Palestine Action,’ she wrote in The Irish Times this week.
‘If this makes me a “supporter of terror” under UK law, so be it.
‘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 then explained: ‘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.’
Rooney also wrote how she believed the ‘present UK government has willingly stripped its own citizens of basic rights and freedoms, including the right to express and read dissenting opinions, in order to protect its relationship with Israel’.
‘The ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the UK… are and will be profound,’ she added.
In a statement Downing Street has told several media publications that ‘support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act’.
Funding the group can now carry up to 14 years imprisonment under the Terrorism Act 2000.
However, the group are not banned under Irish law, where Rooney lives.
In a statement to Metro, a BBC spokesperson said: ‘Matters relating to proscribed organisations are for the relevant authorities.’
It is understood the BBC is not currently working with Rooney on any upcoming projects and has never been a staff member at the national broadcaster.
Yesterday Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, the ambassador of the state of Palestine in Ireland, expressed her support for Rooney and said: ‘Sally Rooney is using her voice to call out international law and human rights violations in Palestine.
‘I hope these calls result in practical actions that will stop the horrors we’re witnessing carried out by Israel in Palestine; to stop the genocide and forced displacement and end the Israeli occupation.’
In 2021 the author previously refused to allow Beautiful World, Where Are You to be translated into Hebrew by an Israeli publisher, which she explained was in support for calls to boycott Israel over its policies towards Palestinians.
Metro has contacted the Home Office for comment.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.