In yesterday's Irish Times, Mary Robinson, who served as Ireland's president from 1990 to 1997, likened attempts to stop Sally Rooney "expressing support for Palestinians" to the demonisation of opponents of apartheid. She called Faber's decision to stop selling Rooney's books in the UK "a very worrying constraint and repression." To be clear, Faber's decision was not about Rooney expressing support for Palestinians. In August 2025, also in the Irish Times, Rooney wrote that she intended "to use the 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." Palestine Action is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK. Faber says the law now prevents it from passing Rooney's UK earnings to her, and that selling her work there without paying her would be "unconscionable." Therefore, it reached a voluntary agreement with Rooney to withdraw her books from British bookstores. While Robinson shows great concern for Rooney, another woman's name appears nowhere in the article, that of Police Sergeant Kate Evans. In August 2024, Palestine Action activists attacked an Elbit Systems site at Filton, near Bristol. Sgt Evans was on her knees, trying to handcuff a female activist, when Samuel Corner, a 23-year-old former student at the University of Oxford, hit her from behind with a sledgehammer. In the judge's words, she "did not have any chance of seeing or escaping the blow." Evans suffered multiple fractures to her vertebrae. For months, she was unable to drive, shower, or dress herself. Almost two years later, she has not returned to full active duty, is still receiving medical treatment, and has been unable to retain her rank as a sergeant. She still experiences panic attacks during the night, and her parents and children fear for her safety. In June, Corner was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Sgt. Evans and jailed for over seven years. The judge described "extreme and gratuitous violence against a vulnerable police officer" and noted that Corner "has never even said sorry." In her victim impact statement, Sgt. Evans said that Corner had attempted to "justify his actions with baseless and offensive claims that [she] was complicit in genocide". Rooney's defenders will say she supports damage to property, not violence against people. But Filton shows how that distinction blurs when activists arrive armed with sledgehammers and police are summoned to stop them. Rooney pledged her platform and her earnings to the terrorist group the year after the Filton attacks, but I can find no record of her ever even mentioning Sgt. Evans. Robinson is right to condemn "thuggery and intimidation" by far-right agitators, and right to defend the rule of law. But the rule of law exists to protect everyone equally. Standards shouldn't change when people are engaging in thuggery, intimidation, and violence for a cause she favours. Sympathy is also not a limited resource, and it can stretch beyond celebrity novelists to a police officer who has lost far more to Palestine Action than some book royalties. irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/…