Margolyes Reflects on Jewish Identity and Upbringing
Actress and comedian Miriam Margolyes has spoken about how being Jewish has influenced her entire life and expressed her view that the world is currently in a worse state than ever before.
During her appearance at the Hay Festival in Powys, Margolyes discussed her background, identity, antisemitism, and the increasingly polarised political climate.
The 85-year-old stated that she thinks about Gaza "every single day when I get up," emphasizing that Jewish people "must hold themselves to higher standard."
Margolyes has previously faced criticism from members of the Jewish community for comments she made, including an interview about Gaza in which she compared Israel's actions to those of Nazi Germany.
Born in Oxford, Margolyes said at the festival:
"I was born Jewish and I think that affects your whole life - what your parents teach you and what you learn from the community you live in."
Reflecting on her upbringing, she described her mother as coming from a "criminal immigrant family," and said her mother was labelled "vulgar, lower middle class, socially a climber."
"But she loved me and brought me up with good morals and good attitudes,"
Margolyes also expressed her fondness for Jewish cuisine, saying:
"Chopped liver, now it's not good for you, but it's one of the glories of the earth. Chopped liver, chopped herring, egg and onion, fried fish with olive oil and matzo meal. Darlings, you know it's worth changing your religion sometimes,"
she joked to the audience.
Views on Antisemitism and Historical Context
Addressing the issue of rising antisemitism, Margolyes stated:
"Nobody likes me to say this but I'm going to say it - people don't like Jews."
She explained that after the Holocaust, when millions of Jewish people and others were killed by the Nazis during World War Two, society recognised the need to avoid hateful speech about Jews.
"People realised that they couldn't say nasty things about Jews because terrible things happened to Jews and they must be sympathetic so it stopped,"
she said.
However, Margolyes added that over time, when "people with no morals who happened to be Jewish" emerged, hostility returned and the animosity "has never been put away."
Concerns About Global Politics and Gaza
Margolyes expressed deep concern about current global politics, stating:
"I don't know if everybody else feels like this, but I don't think things have ever been worse than they are now."
She described her daily thoughts about Gaza:
"But every single day when I get up now, I think about Gaza, and I think about the people who've had their homes blown up and then are told to move on and then when they move on they are shot and attacked and how does one respond to that?"
Margolyes characterised the situation as "wicked" and expressed a desire for the Jewish people to avoid such behaviour themselves:
"I don't want my people to be wicked. We who suffered, we who were at the receiving end of nastiness and wickedness and destruction and death and cruelty. I don't want that."
She emphasised the need for moral clarity:
"We have to be firm about what is good and what is bad, but nobody is facing the truth. What is the matter with everybody?"
Margolyes insisted that Jewish people must hold themselves to higher standards and acknowledged shortcomings:
"Jews must hold themselves to higher standards, I'm afraid, and we are not doing that."
She further stated:
"It is our fault, too, that these things happen in Israel."
Margolyes criticised some members of the Jewish community in the UK for their silence on Israel's actions:
"My friends and my relatives in Golders Green and Dollis Hill and Radlett and St Albans, all full of very nice middle-class Jewish people, decent good people, but they won't speak against Israel and they're wrong, because Israel has become a rogue nation,"
she said.
Context of the Gaza Conflict and Casualties
In 2023, approximately 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas-led attack that triggered the Gaza war, and 251 others were taken hostage.
Israel responded with a large-scale military campaign in Gaza, which devastated much of the Palestinian territory and displaced many of its 2.1 million residents.
According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, more than 72,800 people have been killed in Gaza. The United Nations generally considers these figures reliable.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have stated that their strikes target "military targets only, in accordance with international law."
"In addition, the IDF takes extensive measures to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals during operational activity and invests significant efforts in assessing and considering potential collateral damage throughout all stages of planning and executing strikes."
Rising Antisemitism in the UK
British Jews recently spoke to the BBC about a growing undercurrent of antisemitism in society over recent years.
Police and policy experts responsible for addressing antisemitism believe this environment has contributed to some of the most serious anti-Jewish hate crimes in recent British history, including the 2022 Manchester synagogue attack that resulted in two deaths.
In north London, recent attacks on Jewish premises have heightened concerns, including an arson attack in April on ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity in Golders Green and an attempted arson on a synagogue in Finchley.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity providing advice and security for Jewish communities and monitoring antisemitism in the UK, reports receiving record numbers of antisemitism reports.
Criticism of Margolyes' Statements
As a prominent Jewish public figure, Margolyes has faced criticism from Jewish groups for her stance on Gaza.
After she stated in an interview that Adolf Hitler "made us like him," the Campaign Against Anti Semitism condemned the remarks as "repugnant" and called for her to be stripped of both her OBE and her Bafta award, which she received for a supporting role in the 1993 film The Age of Innocence.
