{"id":228175,"date":"2026-05-12T03:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/228175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T03:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:50:21","slug":"giant-star-elliot-levey-blasts-uks-antisemitism-islamofascism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/228175\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant star Elliot Levey blasts UK\u2019s antisemitism, Islamofascism"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the British stars of the Tony-nominated show \u201cGiant\u201d is battling antisemitism<\/a> in art and in life \u2014 and he has a dire warning for New Yorkers. <\/p>\n

Elliot Levey plays Jewish publisher Tom Maschler opposite John Lithgow\u2019s Roald Dahl<\/a> in the critically acclaimed Broadway hit, a drama about the famous children\u2019s author\u2019s antisemitism.<\/p>\n

The show originated in London where Levey lives with his family. <\/p>\n

\u2018Giant\u2019 star Elliot Levey worries about the rising antisemitism in the UK. FilmMagic<\/p>\n

There, the actor would have to dodge mobs of rabid anti-Israel protesters<\/a> waving Palestinian flags and keffiyehs every Saturday on his way to the West End theatre where the show was staged.<\/p>\n

\u201c[There were] thousands calling to globalize the intifada<\/a>, which means to kill Jews around the world,\u201d Levey, a self-proclaimed \u201cproud Jew,\u201d told The Post. <\/p>\n

Working on Broadway has been a welcome reprieve. <\/p>\n

\u201cNew York is the safest place for Jews on the planet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It got so bad in London that Levey, a 52-year-old who was raised Orthodox and is now a secular Jew, would opt to bike to work from his home in the suburb of Muswell Hill just to avoid the Tube-bound, keffiyeh-wearing mobs pre-show.<\/p>\n

The Leeds native, who was once the only Jew in school, mourns for his mother country, where the Jewish population is \u201cdwindling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a numbers game \u2013 here you\u2019re safe. You have numbers,\u201d said the married father-of-three, noting that there\u2019s just an \u201cinsignificant rump\u201d of Anglo Jewry left in Britain. <\/p>\n

Levey (far right) stars in \u201cGiant\u201d with John Lithgow (from left), Aya Cash and Rachael Sterling. <\/p>\n

According to the UK\u2019s 2021 census, less than 300,000 people in the country identified as Jewish.<\/p>\n

In the UK, antisemitism has struck too close to home.<\/p>\n

Last year, his 21-year-old son, Jacob, was called a \u201cf\u2013king Jew\u201d for wearing a Star of David necklace on a \u201cposh\u201d London street.<\/p>\n

In April, the synagogue in north London where his oldest son, Samuel, was bar mitzvahed \u2013 Finchley Reform Synagogue \u2013 was targeted in an attempted firebomb<\/a>. Thankfully, the molotov cocktail failed to ignite.<\/p>\n

Levey is especially concerned after last week\u2019s council elections in England saw gains for the far-left Green Party, which has targeted Muslim voters and been accused of \u201cIslamofascism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Levey won an Olivier Award for his work in the UK production of \u201cGiant.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce there\u2019s Islamofascism in power, then it\u2019s time to quake,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople on the campaign openly call[ed] for the destruction of Jews [and celebrated Oct. 7, 2023] \u2026 People not just liked those posts, but wrote those posts.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late April, two Green party candidates were arrested \u201con suspicion of stirring up racial hatred online<\/a>,\u201d according to Metropolitan Police. One reportedly shared images that included an armed man in a Hamas headband with the slogan \u201cresistance is freedom\u201d and another posted video claiming that an attack on a synagogue was \u201crevenge\u201d and \u201cnot antisemitism.\u201d (A Green party spokesman said the posts did not reflect the party\u2019s views.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people have resurrected the blood libel,\u201d The Oxford-educated actor said. \u201cIt\u2019s alive and well in the voting booths and across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the savage stabbings of<\/a> two Orthodox men in a heavily Jewish north London Golders Green neighborhood last month, Green Party leader Zack Polanski posted to social media criticizing arresting officers for their treatment of a suspect. After criticism, he apologized for writing the post \u201cin haste.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK is in trouble, and we know what happens to countries in decline,\u201d Levey said, alluding to a financially ailing post-WWI Germany that set the stage as a precursor to the rise of Hitler.<\/p>\n

Living in a London suburb, antisemitism has hit close to home for Levey and his three sons (pictured). Courtesy of Elliot Levey<\/p>\n

Just like some extreme factions believed Americans \u201chad 9\/11 coming. In the UK, despite the pieties, people do not care about the persecution of British Jews,\u201d the actor asserted. \u201cThere\u2019s a genuine feeling we had it coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cautions Jews in New York to protect the relative haven they have here. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let it go. Look after it,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have this magic city. You\u2019re safe and proud and confident. You can live a full open American life.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNew York is the safest place for Jews on the planet,<\/p>\n

Elliot Levey<\/p>\n

Without calling out any American politician by name, the 2025 Olivier Award winner said he\u2019s wary of \u201cslick American politicians\u201d but \u201cyou guys like your slick suits and smiley faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

He quotes the great thinker and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi who said, \u201cBe careful of charisma. It\u2019s lethal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the play, Levey\u2019s character, Tom, is asked rhetorically, \u201cIf they came for you again, where would you go?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tom replies, \u201cProvence,\u201d a line that draws huge laughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Levey (center) celebrated \u201cGiant\u201d and its Olivier Award wins with Mary Yeager (from left) and John Lithgow, his wife Emma Loach, and Amy and Mark Rosenblatt. Courtesy of Elliot Levey<\/p>\n

But the question is hardly theoretical for the actor who said industry friends have been swept up in \u201cthe barrage of Hamas propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than head to the south of France, Levey said that if \u201cit all goes to shit,\u201d he\u2019d move his family to New York for good. <\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica is still in its pomp, in your heyday,\u201d said Levey, whose grandparents survived Eastern European pogroms before emigrating to England. \u201cAmerica is still Zion, the city on the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the British stars of the Tony-nominated show \u201cGiant\u201d is battling antisemitism in art and in life…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3862,207,157,89579,9,24,55,54,56,35372,30427],"class_list":["post-228175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-antisemitism","tag-broadway","tag-entertainment","tag-john-lithgow","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-roald-dahl","tag-tony-awards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}