Bestselling Irish author to use BBC payments to support banned Palestine Action

LONDON

Bestselling Irish author Sally Rooney on Monday said she will continue donating residual payments from BBC adaptations of her novels to support the banned group Palestine Action.

Writing in the Irish Times, Rooney condemned the UK government’s decision to ban the group as a terrorist organization and reiterated her support following the arrests of more than 500 people at a London demonstration calling for the ban to be overturned.

“I too support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it,” Rooney wrote.

The BBC’s 2020 adaptation of her novel Normal People became an international success, followed by the 2022 adaptation of Conversations with Friends.

Rooney said she receives residual fees from these broadcasts and intends to direct the money towards the campaign group.

“My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets,” she said.

“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.”

The BBC said Rooney has never been a staff member at the broadcaster, adding that “what novelists say or do with money previously received was not a matter for them.”

The government announced plans to ban Palestine Action in June under the Terrorism Act 2000 after activists from the group spray-painted military aircraft at a Royal Air Force base – an act under investigation by counter-terrorism police. Lawmakers in the House of Commons and the House of Lords approved the order in July.

Palestine Action describes itself as a direct-action network targeting companies involved in supplying Israel’s military.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights publicly criticized the UK’s decision, and the UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights has been allowed to intervene in the judicial review.

The High Court has also granted Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori permission to challenge the ban in a full judicial review against the order issued by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.