Actress Miriam Margolyes has intensified her criticism of Israel, calling it a 'rogue nation' and urging Jewish people to speak out against its actions in Gaza during a powerful address at the Hay Festival.
At the Hay Festival in Powys, renowned actress and comedian Miriam Margolyes , celebrated for her role as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, delivered a powerful and candid address on the Israel - Gaza conflict, antisemitism, and the moral responsibilities of Jewish people.
The 85-year-old, drawing from her own Jewish upbringing, stated that she thinks about Gaza every single day upon waking, expressing profound distress over the humanitarian catastrophe. She described Israel as a 'rogue nation' and accused her own community of failing to confront what she sees as the state's wrongful actions.
Margolyes argued that Jews must hold themselves to higher standards and lamented that many in her own social circles, though 'decent good people,' refuse to speak out against Israeli policies, which she believes enables ongoing suffering. Her remarks also touched on her personal history, recalling her mother's background from a 'criminal immigrant family' and the social prejudice they faced, while emphasizing the moral values instilled in her.
She connected contemporary antisemitism to a post-Holocaust era where open prejudice was suppressed but later resurfaced, in her view, due to the actions of some Jewish individuals lacking morals. Margolyes explicitly linked the trauma of the Holocaust to the current behavior of Israel, claiming that the 'essential decency and compassion' of Jewish people has been 'squeezed out' and that the state has become 'vicious, genocidal, nationalist.
' She defended previous controversial statements comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, asserting she has no regrets because 'I know I'm right. ' The actress acknowledged that her views have cost her friendships, including with a Jewish person living in Israel, but maintained that silence would betray her principles.
While the speech included lighter moments, such as praising Jewish culinary traditions like chopped liver, the overarching message was a moral condemnation of Israel's conduct in Gaza and a call for accountability within the Jewish diaspora. The context includes the October 2023 Hamas attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, followed by an Israeli military response that has resulted in over 72,800 Palestinian casualties and mass displacement.
Margolyes' statements amplify a contentious debate about the boundaries of acceptable criticism of Israel and the intersection of Jewish identity with political dissent
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