Miriam Margolyes has said she has been branded a "traitor" and has lost friends and family over her support for the people of Gaza.
The veteran English actress, who has starred in such movies as Romeo + Juliet, Babe, and the Harry Potter franchise, appeared on Friday's Late Late Show and was asked why she was so vocal about the issue of Israel and Palestine.
"It’s important to me because I’m Jewish," she told host Patrick Kielty. "And it’s very important that people realise that all Jewish people are not killers, they’re not bastards. It’s not like that.
"It's just a section of the Israeli people that are like that, not Jewish people, and I want that to be known and understood and be clear.
"What happened in Gaza was utterly wrong, wicked and terrifying. The Hamas attack on 7 October was terrible, of course it was, but it came from 70 years of oppression, of Israelis being horrible.
"And I saw it myself, I was there in Israel and I saw it. I saw how they treated Palestinians. It’s wrong and I don’t want us to be changed by Hitler, by the Holocaust, into nasty people."
She added, "I won’t have it. I won’t be changed. My heart is open to anyone who needs help, succour and caring and they need that. What happened in Gaza was wicked and wrong and bless you in Ireland, who made wonderful demonstrations in their favour to help them feel they were not alone.
"I’m shocked by the way it took so long for the international community to response to what was going on."
Asked if she had lost family and friends over the issue, she said, "Yes, I have. It hurts, it hurts when people you are fond of don’t want to talk to you anymore because they feel you are a traitor but they have to do what they do.
"I have to accept it and I mustn't hate them, I must try to understand because if I hate, I’m as bad as they are and I don’t want to be. But I tell you what, North London is a pretty tricky place to negotiate at the moment."
The actress, who described herself as "a leftwing dyke" and "unapologetically woke" on Friday’s show, recently published her new book, The Little Book of Miriam, and now mainly concentrates on making documentaries such as 2023’s Lady Gregory: Ireland's First Social Influencer, which she made with Senator Lynn Ruane, and Miriam Margolyes in New Zealand.
"The stars aren’t important. I like real people and that’s why I’ve changed into a documentarian. I talk to real people," she said. "I could interview any one of this audience and get something important or interesting back from them and I love that and enjoy it.
"People make me tick when they share with me something that is difficult to say. We all have little secrets that we don’t want people to know and when they share those with me, I feel joy and excitement."
Margolyes is in Ireland to take part in a career-spanning conversation with host Rory O’Neill following a screening of Lee Knight’s short film, A Friend of Dorothy, on Saturday at the IFI in Dublin.
You can watch the Late Late Show on the RTÉ Player
