Sally Rooney risks committing a terrorist offence if she uses her BBC royalties to fund Palestine Action, Downing Street has claimed.
The Irish author said she will donate her earnings from her books and BBC adaptions to support the proscribed terror group.
Ms Rooney, 34, who lives in the Republic of Ireland, said she will use the proceeds of her work and her public platform to continue her support for Palestine Action and “direct action against genocide in whatever way I can”.
Palestine Action was recently proscribed under terrorism legislation in the UK.
However, the Republic of Ireland did not opt to take the same action.
Following Ms Rooney’s initial comments, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman would not comment specifically on the author’s comments.
Sally Rooney has said she will support the group
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GETTY/REUTERS
He 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 asked on the message they want to send to people considering giving money to the group, the spokesman 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.”
Ms Rooney’s novels, Normal People and Conversations With Friends, have been adapted into hit BBC series in recent years.
In a statement, a BBC spokesman said: “Matters relating to proscribed organisations are for the relevant authorities.”
Palestinian ambassador in Ireland, Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, also 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.”
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Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid welcomed Rooney’s intervention
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It comes as a poll found most Labour members oppose Sir Keir Starmer’s ban on Palestine Action, with 71 per cent believing their party was wrong to proscribe the group.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had proscribed Palestine Action because of its “violent criminality” and “disturbing” plans for future attacks rather than its protests over Gaza.
Chief executive of Survation Damian Lyons Lowe said: “Our polling shows a clear disconnect between Labour’s grassroots and the Government on this issue.
“With more than seven in 10 Labour members opposing the proscription, it’s evident that many feel this decision was either disproportionate or politically misjudged against the backdrop of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Arrests made at Palestine Action protest in London as police swoop in on proscribed terrorist organisation | GETTYMeanwhile, terror group Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages held in the enclave and Israel’s release of some Palestinian prisoners.
The breakthrough comes as Israel’s plans to seize control of Gaza City have stirred alarm both in Palestine and Tel Aviv, where tens of thousands of Israelis held some of the largest protests since the war began.
Thousands of Palestinians fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and south in the already heavily destroyed territory.
Israel approved the plan to take control of Gaza City earlier this month, but officials had said it could take weeks to start, leaving the door open for a ceasefire, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said it would get under way “fairly quickly” and end the war with Hamas’ defeat.
An Israeli Blackhawk evacuation helicopter flies over Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border
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REUTERS
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has also worsened as the pressure ramps up on Hamas to release the hostages.
The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel’s ensuing air and ground war in Gaza, according to the Strip’s Hamas-run Health Ministry which does not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.
Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, Ahmed Mheisen said 995 families had departed the area in recent days for the south.
Mousa Obaid, a Gaza City resident, added: “I am heading south because I need to ease my mental state.
“I do not want to keep moving left and right endlessly. There is no life left, and as you can see, living conditions are hard, prices are high, and we have been without work for over a year and a half.”
