UK
Miriam Margolyes: ‘The killing of a whole nation doesn’t help the hostages’
The Jewish Harry Potter actress also called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a 'criminal’
July 22, 2025 16:35
The Jewish Harry Potter actress also called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a 'criminal’
July 22, 2025 16:35Actress Miriam Margolyes, best known for her role in the Harry Potter films, has said that although she has sympathy for the hostages and their families, she feels the Israeli response to their kidnapping by Hamas terrorists on October 7 has been “disgraceful”.
“I feel for them. I feel for those families, as we all do and should. But the reaction is disgraceful,” she said. “The killing of a whole nation, that doesn’t help the hostages.”
The lauded actress, who is an outspoken anti-Zionist, added: “It’s only about Netanyahu staying in power. And he is a criminal, and should be seen as such.”
When asked why she doesn’t use her voice to speak out about the way that Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation, treats its own people, Margolyes responded: “We should support the Palestinian people. The Palestinians have been badly served by their leaders, and so have we."
Later, the the 84-year-old added: “I’m born Jewish and proud of being Jewish, but I’m not proud of what they’re doing. That’s my position.
“And talk about ‘a land delivered by God to a nation’? I’m sorry, but God did not give Israel to the Jews. That’s a load of baloney, and I’m not accepting it."
Margolyes was speaking at an event at the Charles Dickens Museum, of which she's a patron.
Talking about the portrayal of Fagin in the 1948 David Lean film, Oliver Twist, she said: “I didn’t like the Fagin… it was antisemitic,” adding: “But then, you know, that’s how things were, and indeed how they are – and who can blame them? The way Israel is behaving – shame on them.”
Margolyes’ comments come a year after she made similar remarks on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. Appearing on the arts programme to promote her show Dickens’ Women at the Edinburgh Fringe, she was asked by presenter Kristy Wark: “Who was the first Dickens character that stuck in your head as a child?”
“Oh, Fagin. Without question. Jewish and vile,” Margolyes replied, quickly adding: “I didn’t know Jews like that then – sadly I do now.”
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