Sally Rooney, an Irish author, rebuked by the UK government for backing the campaign group Palestine Action, which the Labour-led government had earlier criticized as a “terrorist” group.
The prime minister’s office warned against backing such organizations on Monday, citing the Terrorism Act’s warning that “support for a proscribed organization is an offence.”
A spokesperson for the organization that PA Media quoted as having “a legitimate protest in support of a cause” is what the Terrorism Act prohibits from doing.
Rooney, the author of best-selling books like Normal People and Conversations with Friends, criticized the government’s decision to outlaw the pro-Palestinian group in an opinion piece published on Saturday in the Irish Times.
In the article, she wrote, “Activists who disrupt the flow of weapons to a genocidal regime may violate petty criminal statutes, but they uphold a much larger law and a more important human imperative: to protect a people and culture from annihilation.”
In protest of the UK’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 62, 000 Palestinians, including more than half of them women and children, Palestine Action was banned after its activists broke into a military base in central England in June and sprayed red paint on two planes.
What is Palestine Action?
Palestine Action has used “direct action” to disrupt the UK arms market since its founding in 2020. It states that it is “committed to ending the genocidal and apartheid regime’s worldwide participation.”
Israel has been accused of engaging in widespread violations during its 22-month occupation of Gaza. In a statement released in January 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s actions in Gaza were a genocide. Numerous human rights organizations have since labeled Israel’s conflict a genocide. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant were both wanted on charges of war crimes in November.
Rooney claimed that choosing a Dublin-based newspaper to promote her plans instead of a UK one because doing so “would now be illegal” in the country now that Palestine Action has been banned by the government.
“The state broadcaster of the UK consistently owes me residual fees. I want to make it clear that I intend to continue supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in any way I can using the proceeds from my work, as well as my public platform in general,” she wrote.
Hundreds of people are being detained.
Since Palestine Action was outlawed under the Terrorism Act 2000, more than 700 supporters have been detained in the UK, primarily at demonstrations.
“I feel compelled to assert once more that I too support Palestine Action, just like the hundreds of protesters who were detained last weekend. As a result, Rooney said, “I support terrorism in the UK,” as defined by the law.
Palestine Action was “based on security advice following serious attacks the group has committed, following an assessment made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre,” according to a spokesperson from the prime minister’s office.
On July 5, Palestine Action was declared legally prohibited by the government following a break-in at an air force base in southern England that reportedly cost two aircraft 7 million pounds ($9.3 million) of damage.
The organization claimed that its activists were reacting to Israel’s indirect military support from the UK during the Gaza War.
It is now illegal to support or be a member of Palestine Action, which is punishable by a maximum sentence of 14 years. The campaign group is placed on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
More than 500 people were detained on August 9 at a protest in London’s Parliament Square for displaying placards supporting the organization. The figure is regarded as the most detentions at a single protest in the capital ever.
According to the police, at least 60 of them are facing legal action.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper defended the group’s mandate, saying: “Our top priorities must always be UK national security and public safety.”
This is not a nonviolent organization, she said, adding that the assessments are very accurate.
Source: Aljazeera
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