Metropolitan Police officers are investigating the street harassment of Dame Helen Mirren by a pro-Palestine activist as a hate crime.
Video footage circulating on social media captures the 80-year-old Oscar winner being confronted while walking through Tower Hill in London alongside her husband, the American film director Taylor Hackford.
The clip shows the actress initially responding warmly to the approaching man, smiling and enquiring about his well-being, before he began recording and launched into a verbal attack.
The incident, which authorities believe occurred towards the end of last year, has sparked condemnation from antisemitism campaigners.
The pair were acosted in the streets of London
|During the confrontation, the man branded Ms Mirren "an avowed Zionist" and accused her of believing "Israel should last forever because of the Holocaust."
He went on to claim she had been "very happy the Palestinians' houses were gone" before calling her "an evil Zionist b****" and directing abuse at Mr Hackford, 81, as well.
The director, renowned for films including An Officer and a Gentleman, responded by telling the man to "f*** off."
A Met Police spokesman confirmed officers were reviewing the footage and attempting to reach the victims to establish whether they wished to formally report the matter.
London has been hit with several pro-Palestine marches in recent months
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The force noted it had made over 90 hate crime arrests since late March.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism described the video, which appeared online via an account named Anti-Fascist Action UK, as "absolutely appalling."
Writing on X, the charity stated: "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."
The organisation added: "This is not activism. It is intimidation, mob behaviour and extremism masquerading as moral virtue."
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Ms Mirren, who is not Jewish, has been a vocal supporter of Israel since volunteering at a kibbutz and travelling across the country following the 1967 Six-Day War.
She portrayed former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the 2023 biographical film Golda, telling Israeli television at the time: "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."
The incident is now in the hands of the police
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Last month, she signed an open letter backing Israel's Eurovision participation alongside celebrities including Amy Schumer, Sharon Osbourne and Boy George.
Comedian Matt Lucas faced similar harassment from a pro-Palestinian activist on the Tube earlier this year.
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