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LONDON — <\/span>British booksellers are caught up in a battle over terrorism and free speech after Irish novelist Sally Rooney said her books can no longer be sold in the U.K.<\/a> because she financially supports the banned group Palestine Action<\/a>.<\/p>\n The announcement by Rooney\u2019s British publisher that it will no longer distribute her books has reignited debate over the U.K. government\u2019s decision last year to outlaw the direct-action protest group<\/a> as a terrorist organization. The ban makes membership in or support for Palestine Action a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.<\/p>\n Rooney, 35, is the critically praised author of four novels: \u201cConversations with Friends,\u201d \u201cNormal People,\u201d<\/a> \u201cBeautiful World, Where are You\u201d and \u201cIntermezzo.\u201d<\/a> Her books have sold millions of copies, and both \u201cConversations with Friends\u201d and \u201cNormal People\u201d were adapted for television by the BBC.<\/p>\n She supports the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which calls for boycotts of Israeli businesses, universities and cultural institutions over Israel\u2019s treatment of the Palestinians. Israel views the movement as an attack on the legitimacy of the Jewish state.<\/p>\n After the U.K. banned Palestine Action in July 2025, Rooney said she would use proceeds from her books and their TV adaptations to support the group. On Wednesday her U.K. publisher, Faber, said that paying her royalties could violate the terror ban and it had \u201ctaken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the U.K. in any format.\u201d<\/p>\n It said the decision had been made with Rooney’s agreement.<\/p>\n \u201cI have made every effort to be honest with the public about my beliefs and intentions, and I am wholly prepared to accept the consequences,\u201d the writer said in a statement.<\/p>\n Faber\u2019s announcement left British bookstores scrambling to understand whether they were breaking the law by selling Rooney\u2019s books.<\/p>\n The Booksellers Association later said it had \u201cconfirmed with Faber that whilst those titles are no longer available to U.K. bookshops to order, they can continue to sell their existing stock within the U.K. market.\u201d<\/p>\n Some stores rushed to stock up on Rooney\u2019s novels, but found distributors had already run out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were thinking, we\u2019ll just get a whole bunch before we stop being able to,\u201d said Lucy Burke, a bookseller at London\u2019s Camden Town Bookshop. \u201cBecause she\u2019s a hugely popular seller here, and quite evergreen. But now it seems like what we have is all we\u2019re going to have.\u201d<\/p>\n Burke described the situation as \u201cabsolutely ridiculous\u201d and said it amounted to censorship of \u201cone of our most prominent writers.\u201d<\/p>\n Palestine Action, founded in 2020, aims to stop U.K. military support for Israel, which it says is committing genocide against the Palestinians \u2013 a claim Israel strongly denies.<\/p>\n The group says it aims to stop genocide by disrupting \u201ccorporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex.\u201d <\/p>\n In 2024 its activists broke into a factory<\/a> owned by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems UK, smashing equipment with sledgehammers and crowbars. The next year, activists broke into a Royal Air Force base<\/a> in June 2025, sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes and caused further damage with crowbars.<\/p>\n The group says it does not advocate violence against people, but a police officer suffered a fractured spine when she was hit with a sledgehammer during the factory break-in.<\/p>\n The British government says Palestine Action has \u201ccarried out acts of terrorism, celebrated those who took part in them and promoted the use of violence.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe proscription of Palestine Action does not affect lawful protest in support of the Palestinian cause, which remains a fundamental democratic right,\u201d the Home Office said in a statement.<\/p>\n Civil liberties groups say the ban unjustifiably restricts the rights to protest and free speech. In response to the government\u2019s decision, thousands of people have tested the law by silently holding signs reading \u201cI support Palestine Action.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 3,000 people have been arrested<\/a>, and more than 1,200 have been charged under the Terrorism Act, though no one has yet been convicted.<\/p>\n The scale of the arrests, and the profile of those detained \u2013 including retirees in their 80s and 90s \u2013 has put Britain\u2019s Labour Party government under pressure.<\/p>\n The center-left government has tried to rebuild bridges with pro-Palestinian supporters since Prime Minister Andy Burnham replaced Keir Starmer in July.<\/p>\n Last month the U.K. formally recognized a Palestinian state<\/a> and banned goods from Israeli settlements<\/a> in the occupied West Bank. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said his message to people \u201cmoved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people\u201d is \u201cWe hear you. You were right.\u201d<\/p>\n The government has not lifted the ban on Palestine Action, however, and the group continues to challenge its proscription in court.<\/p>\n The High Court ruled<\/a> in February that classing Palestine Action as a terror group alongside the likes of al-Qaida and Hamas was disproportionate and unlawful. The Court of Appeal overturned that decision<\/a> in June, saying outlawing the group was \u201cjustified and proportionate.\u201d<\/p>\n Next month the group\u2019s lawyers will ask the country\u2019s top court, the U.K. Supreme Court, to quash the ban.<\/p>\n John Clegg, a bookseller at the London Review Bookshop, told The Guardian that Rooney\u2019s stance could help in changing the law.<\/p>\n \u201cGood on her for taking a stand, it seems a ridiculous law. If this thing convinces the Home Office to move faster to get rid of it, I\u2019m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n