Call The Midwife actress Miriam Margolyes has launched a scathing new attack on ‘the Jewish people’ after claiming in a new interview that their ‘essential decency and compassion has been squeezed out.. evaporated.’
Asked about comments made earlier this year in which she claimed the impact of Hitler on Jewish people could be seen in the way Israel had turned into a ‘vicious, genocidal, nationalist nation,’ the 83 year-old Harry Potter star said she had no regrets, saying it’s ‘because I know I’m right.’
Interviewed for the Adam Buxton podcast Margolyes admitted that her outspoken views had led to her losing friends including ‘one in particular, who is Jewish and lives in Israel.’
She continued: ‘I’m terribly sad that I’ve offended some people, but to me, they proved that Hitler had won, and that, for me, was such a shock that really hurt me, because I didn’t want to think that was possible.
‘But it’s true, the essential decency and compassion of the Jewish people has been squeezed out, evaporated, and it is a terribly sad thing.
‘But if I don’t speak out against what I think is wrong, who am I?’
Miriam Margolyes (pictured) claimed that the ‘essential decency’ of Jewish people ‘has evaporated’ in an interview for the Adam Buxton podcast
The 83-year-old actress has starred in Call the Midwife (pictured playing Mother Mildred) and Harry Potter
Margoyles was born into a Jewish family living in Oxford but has become increasingly outspoken in recent years as a result of her hostility to Israel.
She said she had been ‘deeply hurt’ at the loss of friends, who objected to her remarks, and her stance following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
She revealed ‘one in particular, who is Jewish and lives in Israel’ had said, ‘I don’t want to be friends anymore, go well on your journey, don’t contact me again.’
‘He was somebody to whom I was very close,’ said Margolyes.Â
‘That was, and is a deep hurt, and that doesn’t go away, but I can’t help it because I know I’m right.
‘I don’t know that I’m right about everything, but I do know that I’m right about the immorality of the Israeli position on Gaza and the activities of the Netanyahu government. That I know for sure they have done wrong.’
Margolyes was born into a Jewish family living in Oxford but has become increasingly outspoken in recent years
The actress (pictured) has previously been left ‘wounded’ by shattered friendships due to her pro Gaza viewsÂ
Jewish organisations have repeatedly condemned Miriam over her attacks on them.
In August, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival she spoke of Dickens’ Fagin character as being ‘Jewish and vile’ before adding: ‘I didn’t know Jews like that then – sadly I do now.’
And in April she condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza saying: ‘To me, it seems as if Hitler has won.Â
‘He’s changed us Jews from being compassionate and carrying into this vicious, genocidal, nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children.’
In 2014 she told the Radio Times: ‘I don’t think people like Jews.Â
‘They never have. English literature, my great love, is full of greasy and treacherous Jews.’
The Campaign Against Antisemitic accused the actress of holding ‘repugnant’ views which could not be excused because she ‘happens to be Jewish.’
Former BBC journalist Sarah Deech has accused Miriam of ‘plain and ugly racism, from a woman who’s given a pass because apparently she is a national treasure.’
