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Dame Helen Mirren has broken her silence after being branded an ‘evil Zionist bitch’ by an anti-Semitic far-Left activist called Tom Carroll during a shocking street confrontation in London.
Speaking to Variety at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, the Oscar-winning actress said she had been ‘attacked by mistake’ by a man she described as ‘maybe a little over passionate or maybe mentally not quite stable.’
The incident took place in November as Dame Helen, 80, walked with her husband, director Taylor Hackford, 81, near Tower Hill by Carroll, from north London, who has a history of posting abusive anti-Semitic material online.
Footage of the encounter, first posted by an anonymous account called Anti-Fascist Action UK, showed the actress smiling and asking the man if he was ‘OK’ before he launched into an expletive-filled tirade.
He said: 'And there is Helen Mirren, the avowed Zionist. You said Israel should last forever because of the Holocaust. And she was very happy the Palestinians' houses were gone.
'You are an evil Zionist bitch. And you [Mr Hackford] as well, f*** you as well.'
Dame Helen Mirren has broken her silence after being branded an ‘evil Zionist bitch’ during a street confrontation in London by an anti-Semitic far-Left activist called Tom Carroll
Dame Helen and her husband were harassed in the street by the anti-Semitic far-Left activist
Speaking to Variety at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, the Oscar-winning actress said she had been ‘attacked by mistake’ by a man she described as ‘maybe a little over passionate or maybe mentally not quite stable'
The Oscar-winning actress has long been outspoken in her support for Israel and has voiced opposition to cultural boycotts against the country.
Reflecting on the incident in Sicily, Dame Helen said she had been targeted by someone who was either ‘over passionate’ or ‘mentally not quite stable.’
She also expressed concern for the current conflict, saying that ‘evil forces are rising everywhere, even in a country like Israel.’
Dame Helen, who portrayed Israel’s only female prime minister, Golda Meir, in the 2023 biopic Golda, said: ‘I played Golda Meir and worked in a country that was the idealistic Israel, and I always thought it was a country that would never do wrong, but of course they were doing wrong, even then.’
Explaining why she has continued to support Israel, she added: ‘I was born at the end of the Second World War, I grew up in Europe post-Second World War and the realisation in my parents’ generation of what had happened in the Holocaust was so profound, so important.
‘Therefore, the creation of Israel was a very important moment, although maybe it was done in completely the wrong way, in the wrong place, I don’t know. But something had to happen after the horror.’
The actress added that she has ‘such great friends from Israel’ and said her first two boyfriends were Jewish, including an Englishman with whom she travelled to Israel as a young woman, where she worked in a kibbutz after the Six-Day War of 1967.
She later added: ‘When you play Catherine the Great, why was Catherine called the Great? Because she took land.
‘Why was Alexander the Great? Because he took land. He invaded, he killed people, he destroyed cities and he took land. Why is he remembered in history? Because with incredible brutality and unbelievable cruelty, he took land.
‘So it devastates me. That’s what I mean. The evil is always lurking, waiting to take over, even in a place like Israel.’
In an apparent reference to both the Holocaust and the war in Gaza, she added: ‘How could you possibly repeat the actions of what was done to you as people to other people?’
Last month, Dame Helen joined Amy Schumer, Mila Kunis and Sharon Osbourne in signing an open letter supporting Israel’s continued participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The actress has long been outspoken in her support for Israel and opposition to cultural boycotts of the country, previously saying: ‘I believe Israel has to go forward into the future, for the rest of eternity. I believe in Israel because of the Holocaust.’
A Met Police spokesperson said: 'We are aware of a video circulating online, showing a man and a woman being subjected to antisemitic verbal abuse in Tower Hill.
'It is believed that the incident took place at the end of last year.
'Officers are currently reviewing the footage and making attempts to contact the victims to establish whether they would like to report the incident.'
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