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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Sally Rooney says she cannot ‘safely enter’ UK after supporting
banned pro-Palestinian group
By Max Saltman, Kara Fox, CNN
Updated:
3:40 PM EDT, Thu September 18, 2025
Source: CNN
Irish novelist skipped an awards ceremony in London, saying that she
risked being arrested under terror laws due to her support for the .
Rooney’s editor Alex Bowler read her statement at the Sky Arts Awards
on Tuesday, where the author’s fourth book “Intermezzo” for
literature.
“I wish I could be here with you this evening to accept the honor in
person,” her statement read, “but, because of my support for
non-violent anti-war protest, I’m advised I can no longer safely
enter the UK without potentially facing arrest.”
Rooney reiterated her “belief in the dignity and beauty of all human
life, and my solidarity with the people of Palestine,” in the
statement.
London’s Metropolitan Police told CNN in a statement Thursday it
“wouldn’t comment on an individual at the point of arrest or prior
to this.”
CNN has reached out to Rooney and Bowler for comment through Faber, her
publisher.
Palestine Action is a UK-based organization that aims to disrupt the
operations of weapons manufacturers connected to the Israeli
government.
British authorities have on the group since 2020, but its June 2025
action – RAF Brize Norton, vandalizing two Airbus Voyager refueling
planes – led to its proscription.
Palestine Action is believed to be the first direct-action group to be
designated a terrorist organization in the UK. The ban means that
showing support for the organization carries a maximum sentence of up
to 14 years in prison.
Civil liberties campaigners across the UK and beyond have condemned the
designation, saying that applying terrorism laws to such a group risk
chilling free speech and assembly and sets a dangerous precedent for
protest rights.
Since its terror designation, more than 1,500 individuals have been
arrested at solidarity protests across the UK, many for holding signs
that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
In August, Rooney also denounced the ban, writing an titled: “I too
support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’
under UK law, so be it.”
She wrote that “an increasing number of artists and writers can no
longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public” and that she
intended to take the residual fees from BBC adaptations of her first
two novels to donate them toward “supporting Palestine Action and
direct action against genocide in whatever way I can.”
Israel has been facing growing international condemnation. A United
Nations commission concluded this week that Israel was committing
genocide in Gaza. Israel denies any accusations of genocide.
“If the British state considers this ‘terrorism,’” Rooney
wrote, “then perhaps it should investigate the shady organizations
that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH
Smith and the BBC.”
CNN has reached out to the retailer WH Smith. A spokesperson for the
BBC told CNN in a statement that Rooney does not currently receive
payment directly from the BBC, “and she is not contracted by us.”
Longstanding critic
Rooney, best known for her novel “Normal People” and its subsequent
adaptation for TV, has long criticized Israel’s occupation of the
West Bank and its pre-war blockade of Gaza.
In 2021, she the Hebrew-language rights for her third novel
“Beautiful World, Where Are You” to an Israeli publisher out of her
support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a
Palestinian-led global campaign promoting boycotts, divestments, and
economic sanctions against Israel.
The writer’s stance underlines Ireland’s longstanding support of
the Palestinian cause.
Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian countries in Europe, out of
a shared experience of subjugation by an occupying state.
In , the Irish government joined South Africa’s case at the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide, and
the country passing a bill that will ban trade with illegal Israeli
settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Nonetheless, Rooney has criticized Ireland’s government for not
speaking out more forcefully in favor of protesters recently arrested
in the UK.
“If the Government in Dublin truly believes that Israel is committing
genocide,” Rooney said, “how can it look elsewhere while its
nearest neighbor funds and supports that genocide and its own citizens
are arrested simply for speaking out?”
CNN has reached out to Ireland’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
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