Miriam Margolyes pictured during her recent interview on The Late, Late Show

Miriam Margolyes has opened up about losing friends and family members due to her staunch support of Palestine.

The always-opinionated Bafta winner, who is Jewish, has been a vocal advocate for the Palestinian cause for some time now, which she was asked about during an interview on Ireland’s The Late Late Show last week.

When host Patrick Kielty remarked that Miriam had “lost a lot of family and friends over this” issue, she agreed: “Yes, I have. It hurts when people that you’re fond of don’t want to talk to you anymore, because they feel you’re a traitor. They have to do what they do, and 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.”

On why it’s so important to her to speak out on the subject of Palestine, Mirian explained: “I’m Jewish, and it’s very important that people realise that all Jewish people are not killers. They’re not bastards. It’s not like that.

“This is just a section of the Israeli people that are like that. Not Jewish people. And I want that to be known and understood and clear.”

She continued: “What happened in Gaza was utterly wrong, wicked and terrifying – the response to the Hamas attack. The Hamas attack 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, and it’s wrong.”

The former Call The Midwife star added: “I don’t want us to be changed by Hitler, by the Holocaust, into nasty people. I won’t have it. I won’t be changed.

“My heart is open to anyone who needs help, succour, caring, and........

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