The Metropolitan Police announced in May that they were investigating the incident<\/a>, footage of which began circulating that month, as a possible hate crime. The clip showed Mirren and her husband, the filmmaker Taylor Hackford, being filmed as they walked the streets of London together in November 2025. <\/p>\n After discussions with Mirren and Hackford, police closed the case without a formal investigation, according to The Jewish Chronicle<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the footage, Mirren could be seen asking the man filming her whether he is OK, before the man could be heard saying: \u201cAnd there is Helen Mirren, the avowed Zionist. You said Israel<\/a> should last forever because of the Holocaust. And she was very happy the Palestinians\u2019 houses were gone. You are an evil Zionist b****. And [Hackford] as well, f*** you as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Hackford could then be seen telling the man to \u201cf*** off\u201d and asking him to leave them alone.<\/p>\n Speaking at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy today (11 June), Mirren was asked about the incident. She said, Variety<\/a> reports, that she was \u201cattacked by mistake by a man who was maybe a little over passionate or maybe mentally not quite stable\u201d.<\/p>\n Mirren then discussed her relationship to Israel, based upon her experiences visiting the country, as well as her participation in the 2023 biopic Golda, about the former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.<\/p>\n \u201cEvil forces are rising everywhere, even in a country like Israel,\u201d she said. \u201cHow could you possibly repeat the actions of what was done to you as people to other people?\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI have such great friends from Israel. The artistic community in Israel, the intellectual community in Israel, are so remarkable. 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\u2019 generation of what had happened in the Holocaust was so profound, so important. <\/p>\n \u201cTherefore, 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\u2019t know. But something had to happen after the horror.\u201d<\/p>\n In a 2023 interview, Mirren recalled her experiences hitchhiking around the country in the late Sixties, where she volunteered at a kibbutz, an Israeli communal settlement. She said that she \u201cwitnessed things that were wrong. I witnessed Arabs being thrown out of their houses in Jerusalem. But it was just the extraordinary magical energy of a country just beginning to put its roots in the ground. It was an amazing time to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n She has also historically voiced her advocacy for the country, and in April signed an open letter alongside fellow stars, including Boy George and Sharon Osbourne, in which she pledged her support for the country\u2019s inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n During her talk at the Taormina Film Festival, Mirren suggested that she now had complicated feelings about the country.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was Catherine called \u2018the Great\u2019? Because she took land. Why was Alexander \u2018the Great\u2019? Because he took land. He invaded, he killed people, he destroyed cities and he took land,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy is he remembered in history? Because with incredible brutality and unbelievable cruelty, he took land. <\/p>\n \u201cSo it devastates me. That\u2019s what I mean. The evil is always lurking, waiting to take over, even in a place like Israel. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2255435006.jpeg\")
Helen Mirren at a premiere in January 2026 (Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Helen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2014129106...jpeg\")
Helen Mirren with her husband, Taylor Hackford (Getty)<\/p>\n