Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes is a British‑Australian Jewish actor known for her long career in film, television, and theatre. She has become a prominent public critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, speaking from her position as a Jewish public figure. In an April 2024 video released by the Jewish Council of Australia, she said she had “never been so ashamed of Israel,” describing its conduct as “vicious, genocidal, [and] nationalist” and calling the assault on Gaza “shocking, embarrassing and wicked.” She has repeatedly urged Jewish communities to “shout, beg, scream for a ceasefire” and stated that it is “not antisemitic to have a different opinion on the wartime actions now.” Margolyes has also explicitly identified herself as anti‑Zionist. In a 2020 interview with Jewish News, she said: “I’m an anti‑Zionist. I have seen the devastation and misery the Palestinian population is experiencing from the beginning of Israel’s creation… I just don’t want us to be doing similar things to other people in the misguided belief that we have the right to do so.” Her dissent is significant because she uses her global platform to articulate a Jewish moral critique of Zionism, drawing on her family history, Holocaust consciousness, and decades of public engagement.