Sally Rooney vows support for Palestine Action: "If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it."

Sally Rooney has said she will continue to support Palestine Action "in whatever way I can," including royalties from TV adaptations of her books.

In a piece published in the Irish Times on Saturday, the Normal People author vowed her support for the direct action network despite its proscription as a terrorist organisation in the UK in July. Proscription made showing support for Palestine Action illegal under the UK Terrorism Act, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

"If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it," said Rooney, adding she intends to use proceeds from her work, including residuals from BBC adaptions of Normal People and Conversations with Friends, "to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can."

Following Rooney's remarks, a spokesperson of the UK Prime Minister warned anyone financially supporting Palestine Action risks committing a terrorist offence.

"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," the spokesperson said, adding, "support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act and obviously the police will...implement the law."

Rooney's announcement came after over 500 protesters were arrested in London's Parliament Square earlier this month for supporting Palestine Action. Multiple Irish citizens, including Limerick's Sinéad Ní Shiacáis, were among those detained.

"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," Rooney said.

"The ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the UK – where the eminent poet Alice Oswald has already been arrested, and an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public – are and will be profound."

Rooney contrasted the UK government with that of Ireland, which has formally recognised Israel's attacks on Palestine as a genocide.

"Genocide is the gravest of international crimes and, for most of us, quite aside from any legal framework, the most abhorrent wrong imaginable," Rooney said.

"Under the Genocide Convention, to which both Ireland and the UK are signatories, nation states have a duty not only to punish but also to prevent [genocide]. Activists who disrupt the flow of weapons to a genocidal regime may violate petty criminal statutes, but they uphold a far greater law and a more profound human imperative: to protect a people and culture from annihilation."

She criticised the Irish government for its silence regarding Irish citizens who are accused of terrorism for protesting Israel.

"When our citizens are arrested under authoritarian regimes elsewhere, the State and its consular services tend to spring into action, or at least purport to, in order to defend the human rights of Irish passport holders," Rooney said.

"Now that the jurisdiction in question is located next door – and indeed closer still – our leaders seem curiously unwilling to act. If the Government in Dublin truly believes that Israel is committing genocide, how can it look elsewhere while its nearest neighbour funds and supports that genocide and its own citizens are arrested simply for speaking out?"

She mentioned the 74-year-old woman who was arrested for wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt at an anti-racism rally in Belfast last weekend. Rooney called the incident "a particularly egregious example of political policing."

Rooney also discussed the team of Al Jazeera journalists murdered by Israel last week, with Israel openly taking credit for the deaths on the baseless claim that the renowned Palestinian reporter Anas al-Sharif was a "terrorist."

"While protesters are labelled terrorists in the UK, Palestinian civilians are, of course, labelled terrorists by Israeli forces," Rooney said.

"But where UK protesters face trumped-up charges and prison sentences, Palestinians face violent death...Once the special word 'terrorist' is invoked, it seems, all laws melt into air and everything is permitted."

In the conclusion to her piece, Rooney shared a quote from Ní Shiacáis following her arrest at the protest, which read, "We are not the story; the Palestinian people are the story. They are begging people to give them a voice."

"Palestine Action has been among the strongest of those voices in the UK, taking direct steps to halt the seemingly unstoppable machinery of violence," Rooney said.

"We owe their courageous activists our gratitude and solidarity. And by now, almost two years into a live-streamed genocide, we owe the people of Palestine more than mere words."

Rooney has previously voiced support for Palestine Action, writing earlier this year that proscribing the group would be an "alarming attack on free speech."

Her statements were met with support from Dr. Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, ambassador of the State of Palestine in Ireland.

"Sally Rooney is using her voice to call out international law and human rights violations in Palestine," said Abdalmajid today.

"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."

Contrarily, British pro-Israel organisation Campaign Against Antisemitism announced on X that it has reported Rooney to the UK Counter Terrorism Police.

The BBC said it is not currently working with Rooney on any upcoming projects.