Miriam Margolyes 'disgusted' by Labour's complicity in Gaza
The 84-year-old British-Australian actress, who is Jewish, has previously shown her support for Gaza, having recently signed a letter calling for change in the BBC as a result of its reporting on Israel and Palestine – but she has rarely spoken to the media about her position.
Miriam Margolyes (Image: Impressive PR) Margolyes said that while she had always been a Labour supporter, the UK is currently in "a right old mess".
"I think it's about as low as it's been, certainly in my lifetime," she told the Sunday National.
READ MORE: My family starves in Gaza while the world watches. We must keep speaking up
"They've forgotten what Labour is about. I don't recognise any of the people, I don't recognise what they want, I don't share in their hopes. I feel very, very depressed about the political situation, I really do."
Margolyes highlighted the UK Government's "ghastly" position on a number of issues, but was particularly "concerned" about Gaza.
She said: "Because I'm Jewish – although not a believer in it – I do care very much about what happens to Israel and to the Palestinian people. And that is where I think we've gone terribly wrong.
"I think the Labour Party should have made more sanctions against Israel, and stopped this nonsense about antisemitism.
"Of course, there is antisemitism, there's always been antisemitism – nobody likes Jews, they never have.
"But this is about Israel and the actions of Israel, it's not about Jews."
(Image: Fatima Shbair / AP)Margolyes went on to say that when she sees "that people who have nothing now – who have no home, no food, no medicine, no hope – are being hounded from place to place by an immensely powerful opposing power, I know that it's wrong".
"I don't have to think about it, I know that evil is happening on a grand scale, and my country is supporting and helping it," she told the Sunday National.
"I'm shocked and disgusted and dazed by this, and I don't understand why everybody isn't, I really don't see why people allow this horror to take place.
"It's completely, completely wicked."
READ MORE: Scottish community-owned island announces full boycott of Israel
Margolyes acknowledged that she often receives criticism for speaking on political issues as an actress, but maintained that "it's not about me as an actress, I'm thinking about it as a person".
"I try and raise awareness when I think something is wrong. And I am absolutely bloody certain that what Israel is doing is wrong, wicked, indefensible," she told the Sunday National.
She continued: "For 80 years, they have tried to destroy the spirit of the Palestinian people. They have failed conspicuously.
"If they think that bombing and killing young children, and herding people from place to place, if they think that's going to build loyalty towards Israel in Palestinians, or stop them from being their enemy, they are quite wrong.
"They are building – ensuring – hatred every day.
"Of course, I have to speak about that. I'm a human being, it's about being a human being. Keir Starmer, and that long drink of a fellow Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Nigel Farage, they've all forgotten how to be human."
Margolyes added as an aside: "Everybody thinks that I'm a comedian, and that I'm a bundle of laughs. When there are things to be laughing about and have fun with, I'm happy to do it. But God Almighty, it's difficult now, isn't it?"
'I would vote SNP if I lived in Scotland'
WHEN Margolyes spoke to The National last year, she revealed that she would welcome Scottish independence.
One year later, her position remains the same – and she has revealed who she would vote for if she lived in Scotland.
"I like the way that the SNP politicians talk about Scotland. If I lived in Scotland, I would probably vote [[SNP]]," she said.
"I don't live in Scotland, but I hope that they do very well in the elections."
Margolyes will be returning to Scotland next month for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her show Margolyes And Dickens: More Best Bits.
Miriam Margolyes (Image: PA) The show is split into two parts: A deep-dive into the world of Charles Dickens, who she describes as "the art in my life", followed by an open-floor Q&A.
Margolyes expressed her love for the Fringe, having first come to the festival when she was around 10 years old, but stressed that it was becoming harder for young people to attend.
She said: "It's all so expensive. I'm very lucky because I've become well known, so I've got a production company that's representing me. I don't have to do anything, I just have to deliver a show and go on stage and do it.
READ MORE: Comedian cancels Fringe show over 'terror' charge bail conditions'
"I don't have to do what I did have to do when I first came, which was to go round with leaflets, begging people to put them up in their restaurants and launderettes and on their windscreens, begging for attention, trying to talk to journalists.
"It's hard for young people to get going. I think that there should be a kind of, not exactly a levy, but people like me who've got money, we should put aside a lump sum to help young people find a place to live, so that life can flourish and that they don't dwindle and die because they can't find a place to perform.
She concluded: "It's the young that give it the majesty and the miracle, it's not oldies like me. It's the young: They're the people that astonish and delight."
Margolyes And Dickens: More Best Bits is at the Pentland Theatre at Pleasance at EICC, August 9 to 24 at 6pm.
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