British actress Helen Mirren, an Academy Award winner, expressed her disappointment with Israel and confessed that for years she considered it an "ideal place," a perception that changed based on her personal experiences and her monitoring of the situation in the Gaza Strip.

During an interview with Variety, conducted as part of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily, the actress recalled a video that recently resurfaced on social media. In the images, a man accosts her on a London street and accuses her of being a "vicious Zionist." Mirren explained that the incident likely occurred late last year and considered that the individual misunderstood her views. She also urged caution when sharing content online without knowing the full context.

Helen Mirren compares the genocide in Gaza to the Holocaust

The actress addressed her vision of Israel, stating that "the forces of evil are emerging everywhere, even there." She also questioned how a genocide suffered by one people can be reproduced against another, alluding to the Nazi Holocaust and the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The artist revealed that she visited Israel during her youth, shortly after the 1967 war, and worked in one of the settlements. That stay allowed her to observe realities that led her to reconsider the idealized image she had maintained of the country.

A reflection by Helen Mirren marked by the genocide in Gaza

"I always thought that Israel was a nation incapable of doing wrong," she commented. However, over the years she understood that this vision was erroneous and that even then there were signs of problems and questionable decisions.

Mirren also reflected on her role as former Prime Minister Golda Meir in the film "Golda" (2023). According to her explanation, "returning to that character" and delving deeper into Israel's trajectory increased her awareness of the distance between the image many projected of the government and subsequent political evolution. She noted that history often exalts rulers for expanding territories and accumulating power, despite the violence, deaths, and destruction associated with those processes. In her view, current events are lamentable and pose profound ethical dilemmas about the exercise of power, violence, and historical memory.

The actress's statements come amid intense debate within Western cultural circles about the war in Gaza. Increasingly, artists and intellectuals express criticism of Israeli policies, while deep differences persist over the limits of those positions and stances of support or condemnation.