Police are treating the harassment of Dame Helen Mirren in the street by a pro-Palestine activist as a hate crime, The Telegraph understands.
Footage on social media shows the Oscar-winning actress, 80, being accosted as she walked along a street in London with her husband, Taylor Hackford, 81.
Dame Helen can be seen initially greeting the man with a smile and asking whether he is “OK” as he approaches the couple while filming.
He then launches into an abusive tirade, saying: “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 b—-. And you [Mr Hackford] as well, f— you and all.”
Mr Hackford, an American film director best known for An Officer and a Gentleman, can be heard telling the man to “f— off”.
The Met Police said it believed the incident took place at the end of last year.
“We are aware of a video circulating online, showing a man and a woman being subjected to antisemitic verbal abuse in Tower Hill,” a spokesman said.
“Officers are currently reviewing the footage and making attempts to contact the victims to establish whether they would like to report the incident.
“The Met continues to work hard to tackle hate crimes of all types and officers across London have made more than 90 hate crime arrests since the end of March.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said the video, posted online by an account called Anti-Fascist Action UK, was “absolutely appalling”.
In a post on X, the charity said: “We are now at a point where public figures can be screamed at and abused simply for being perceived as being sympathetic to the world’s only Jewish state or unwilling to conform to an ideological litmus test.
‘Intimidation, mob behaviour and extremism’
“This is not activism. It is intimidation, mob behaviour and extremism masquerading as moral virtue.”
Dame Helen, who recently starred in The Thursday Murder Club, has long been outspoken in her support for Israel and opposition to cultural boycotts against the country.
Last month, she joined other celebrities in signing an open letter supporting Israel’s inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest, alongside Amy Schumer, Mila Kunis, Sharon Osbourne and Boy George.
She portrayed Golda Meir, Israel’s only female prime minister, in the 2023 film Golda.
At the time, she told Israeli TV: “I believe in Israel, in the existence of Israel, and I believe Israel has to go forward into the future, for the rest of eternity. I believe in Israel because of the Holocaust.”
She revealed people had tried to talk her out of making the film because of Israel’s image on the world stage, but added: “I’ve met such extraordinary people in Israel.”
She told Israel’s Channel 12: “I know there is a base, a foundation of deep, intelligence, thoughtfulness, commitment, poetry even in Israel that is very, very special, I think.”
Dame Helen, who is not Jewish, has criticised a cultural boycott of Israel, saying “it didn’t seem right” to “abandon artists in Israel” that she had met. She said: “It is the artistic community that I believe will carry Israel forward.”
