No 10 has warned Sally Rooney risks committing a terrorist offence after she vowed to use earnings from her books and BBC adaptations to fund Palestine Action.
The Normal People author said she would donate earnings from her work to support the group, which was recently proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.
‘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.
‘If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it,’ the 34-year-old added. ‘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 WHSmith and the BBC.’
Downing Street said ‘support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act’, adding that no-one should be backing the group.
Palestine Action was recently proscribed under terrorism legislation in the UK, meaning funding the group could carry up to 14 years imprisonment under the Terrorism Act 2000.
However, the group are not banned under Irish law, where Ms Rooney currently resides.
In her recent opinion piece, the Irish writer said: ‘To ensure the British public is aware of my position, I would happily publish this statement in a UK newspaper – but that would now be illegal’.
The BBC adaptation of Normal People, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal, was one of the corporation’s biggest hits of 2020, and it has also adapted Ms Rooney’s book Conversations With Friends.
It is understood Ms Rooney has never been a BBC staff member, and is not working with the broadcaster on any upcoming projects.
Palestine Action was banned last month after it admitted breaking into RAF Brize Norton in June, when £7 million of damage was caused to two Voyager aircraft.
The action, approved by both Houses of Parliament, made it a proscribed organisation, meaning it is now a crime to offer it support or be a member.
Ms Rooney was referred to during a hearing at the High Court in London last month, when the co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, unsuccessfully sought to block the proscription.
Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC, representing Ms Ammori, told the court the ban would create ‘far-reaching’ harm and cause people to ‘self-censor’.
She said that Ms Rooney ‘fears the ramifications for her, for her work, for her books, for her programmes’ if she showed support for Palestine Action.
Ms Ni Ghralaigh asked: ‘Is the Prime Minister going to denounce her, an Irish artist, as a supporter of a proscribed organisation? Will that have ramifications for her with the BBC?’
On Monday, the ambassador of Palestine in Ireland, Dr Jilan Wahba Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, voiced her support for the novelist’s recent comments.
‘Sally Rooney is using her voice to call out international law and human rights violations in Palestine,’ she said.
‘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 Westminster the Prime Minister’s official spokesman would not comment specifically on the author’s comments.
The spokesman said: ‘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.’
When what message No 10 would give to people considering giving money to the group, he answered: ‘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.’
The spokesman said Palestine Action was proscribed ‘based on security advice following serious attacks the group has committed, following an assessment made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre’.
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘Matters relating to proscribed organisations are for the relevant authorities.’
More than 700 people have been arrested since the ban came into force, including hundreds who held up placards which read ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’ at a demonstration in Parliament Square on August 9.
The Metropolitan Police said on Friday a further 60 people will be prosecuted for supporting Palestine Action, in addition to three charges announced previously in relation to a protest on July 5.
Elsewhere in Norwich, 13 people were arrested at a protest, Norfolk Police confirmed.