Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes says Israel has become a 'rogue nation' in wake of Gaza war

Published: 08:57, 2 June 2026 | Updated: 08:58, 2 June 2026 Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has described Israel as a 'rogue nation' and said she thinks about Gaza 'every single day when I get up'. The 85-year-old actress and comedian made the comments at the Hay Festival in Powys where she also reflected on her Jewish upbringing. Ms Margolyes previously sparked controversy over comparisons she made between the Middle Eastern state and Nazi Germany in an interview about the Gaza war. But speaking last week, she said: 'I don't know if everybody else feels like this, but I don't think things have ever been worse than they are now. '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?' She went on to accuse her 'people' of being 'wicked', adding: '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. '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? 'Jews must hold themselves to higher standards, I'm afraid, and we are not doing that.' Miriam Margolyes made the comments at the Hay Festival in Powys where she also reflected on her Jewish upbringing Ms Margolyes, who was born in Oxford, described her mother as coming from a 'criminal immigrant family' and said she was branded 'vulgar, lower middle class, socially a climber'. 'But she loved me and brought me up with good morals and good attitudes', she added. Addressing concerns about anti-Jewish sentiment, she said 'nobody likes me to say this but I'm going to say it - people don't like Jews'. The actress added that after the Holocaust - where millions of Jewish people were among those killed by the Nazis during World War Two - people 'realised that they couldn't say nasty things about Jews and they must be sympathetic so it stopped'. However, she explained that over time when 'people with no morals who happened to be Jewish' appeared, 'the knives came out again, and they have never been put away'. Ms Margolyes, who has spent long periods of time living in Australia, said it was 'our fault, too, that these things happen in Israel'. She concluded: '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.' Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage in the 2023 Hamas-led attack in Israel amid the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestinian land. The comedian and actress previously starred as the beloved Herbology teacher in the Harry Potter films, Professor Pomona Sprout Israel's military response is believed to have killed 72,800 people in Gaza and left many of its 2.1million residents displaced. Ms Margolyes previously sparked controversy after claiming in an interview that Jewish people's 'essential decency and compassion has been squeezed out... evaporated'. Asked about comments made in 2024, 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 Harry Potter star said she had no regrets, saying it's 'because I know I'm right'. Interviewed for the Adam Buxton podcast the star 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?' At last week's Hay Festival, Ms Margolyes also touched on her love of Jewish food. '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. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. 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