Irish writer Sally Rooney pledges funds to designated Palestinian terrorist organization

Irish author Sally Rooney, long known for her anti-Israel stance and support of boycotts against the country, announced on Saturday that she will donate her earnings to Palestine Action, which is designated as a terrorist organization.

“The UK’s state broadcaster… 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,” Rooney wrote.

The BBC noted that it is not currently working with Rooney on any projects and that she has never been employed directly by their network.

Rooney also made it clear that she has no qualms about supporting Palestine Action.

“I feel obliged to state once more that, like the hundreds of protesters arrested last weekend, I too support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it,” Rooney wrote.

Palestine Action was designated a terrorist organization by the British Parliament on July 5, after activists from the group broke into a Royal Air Force base in June and vandalized aircraft. They sprayed paint on the planes and attempted to damage the engines with metal rods, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) in damage to two aircraft.

According to Palestine Action, flights from the base operate daily to British bases in Cyprus, which they allege are involved in supporting a “genocide in Gaza.”

Under the new designation, membership in or support for Palestine Action is a criminal offense in Britain, carrying penalties of up to 14 years in prison.

In November 2024, Palestine Action stole two statues of the first president of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, from Manchester University, as part of country-wide vandalism committed by the terrorist group, including against two Jewish charities, the London offices of the Britain-Israel Communications and Research Centre and the Jewish National Fund.

Rooney’s involvement in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel dates back to before the war in Gaza.

In 2021, she declined having her novel "Beautiful World, Where Are You?" translated into Hebrew by the Israeli publisher Modan, citing her support for BDS. In the weeks following Oct. 7, 2023, she signed a call for a ceasefire that did not mention Israeli hostages. Then, in 2024, she announced her decision to boycott Israeli cultural institutions.

In 2021, the Irish writer sought to explain her selective human rights activism, stating, “Of course, many states other than Israel are guilty of grievous human rights abuses. In this particular case, I am responding to the call from Palestinian civil society, including all major Palestinian trade unions and writers’ unions.”

Ireland has long maintained a strong anti-Israel position. In 2024, the country recognized a Palestinian state and, together with Spain and Slovenia, pushed for EU sanctions on Israel, including an arms embargo and changes to the 1995 EU–Israel Association Agreement. However, the effort failed due to a lack of consensus within the EU.

A December 2024 study reported a sharp rise in antisemitism in Ireland, describing it as reaching “medieval” levels. The survey found that religious narratives contributed to anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment. Notably, the report found that one-third of respondents believe Jews “still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.”