Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How is this 'protest'? Helen Mirren targetted

217 replies

Blueredyellowgreen · 28/05/2026 12:19

A 'protestor' called Dame Helen Mirren an 'evil Zionist Bitch'. How does this actually help 'palestine'? AIBU

YANBU - this isn't protest and doesn't help palestine

YABU - this is protest and is ok

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15854799/Dame-Helen-Mirren-evil-Zionist-pro-Palestine.html

Moment Dame Helen Mirren is called an 'evil Zionist b****' in London

The video, first posted by an anonymous account Anti-Fascist Action UK, shows the Oscar-winning actress being approached as she walked in London with her husband.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15854799/Dame-Helen-Mirren-evil-Zionist-pro-Palestine.html

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:54

balabusta · 28/05/2026 14:24

I never saw people being driven mad becuase the government is weak on the Sudan genocide. Or the Congo genocide. Or actually any genocide ever. Seems a very selective madness.

And, no, Jews aren't endangered because Labour said they are pro israel. They are endangered because of anti semites

Whataboutery

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:53

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:40

No it isn't mockery. Try it.

If people had a sincerely held belief about a valuable part of England to which they also had ancestral links 1000 plus years ago, what would we do if it were given to them by vast foreign military powers?

Palestinians are indigenous. Europeans and Americans do not have right to indigenous homes.

Do you also support return of New York and other lands to First Nations?

Edited

No colonial powers gave anyone anything. Unlike, say, Jordan which was literally created out of mandatory Palestine by the Brits (fact). Like I said, totally inaccurate and weird comparison.

And its not about belief, its about facts.

Jews were forcibly expelled from their homeland. Fact.

Jews always prayed and wanted to return. Fact.

Many jews did return over the years under ottoman and British rule (and previosily depending who ruled - never ever palestinian btw). Fact.

The return of the Jews to their homeland could easily have been done without conflcit with compromise and agreement. Fact.

Many Arabs themselves migrated to mandatory Palestine from other surrounding countries due to the economic success as a result of Jewish migration. Fact.

The brits did promise at different times to give the land to Arabs or Jews. In the end, they handed the problem to a UN commission which proposed partition. Fact.

Palestinian jews accepted UN proposed partition, Palestinians Arabs rejected any Jewish self determination in mandatory Palestine, no compromise. Fact.

Civil war began. Fact.

Brits had enough trying to contain the civil.and just unilaterally. left. On the day they departed,.Palestinian zionsits declared the state of Israel. Palestinian Arabs don't (they could have, the brits had upped and gone). Fact

So turn those facts into a "thought experiment "

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:53

balabusta · 28/05/2026 15:32

Who in government said/did what and when that you think is antisemitic. Thats what a real example looks like.

Getting granular (exhaustion tactic)

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:52

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:12

Actually they do. As i said, of some sort. Might not be their own but there is some kind of access. Given that we were told that Gaza before 7/10 was a concentration camp/warsaw ghetto, one would assume phone ownership/Internet access to be the same as Sudan, Congo or Myanmar.
And in any case there is plenty of footage out there. Just doesn't get past the social media algorithms and engagement. No ones actually interested.

Fake news

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:51

balabusta · 28/05/2026 15:34

This is like when my sister would say to me 'Oh I know the answer but I'm just not telling you' when she was 10

Reader, she didnt really know the answer.

Infantilisation, reductive and personal attack

Bunnyofhope · 28/05/2026 16:51

Helen grew up in westcliff on sea, with its big Jewish community. She went to school with Jews and will definitely have had Jewish friends. If she still follows her home town at all she will doubtless be disgusted by Palestine protesters from outside of town coming in to harass local Jews especially on Sabbath and festive days. I have no idea if she stands by what she reportedly said all those years ago but I'm sure she has the highest regard for the Jewish community and rightly so.
Like most of us round here.

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:50

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:37

It fits with your approach to the Congo, Sudan and Rohingya genocides.

Can't see, wont see.

Mirroring tactic

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:40

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:36

Your "thought experiment" is nothing but deriding and mocking Jewish claims to the land by making a ridiculous and totally inaccurate comparison which shows your bias and agenda. Jews are indigenous to Israel, they didnt ask to be expelled. The arch of Titus is there for.a reason.

No it isn't mockery. Try it.

If people had a sincerely held belief about a valuable part of England to which they also had ancestral links 1000 plus years ago, what would we do if it were given to them by vast foreign military powers?

Palestinians are indigenous. Europeans and Americans do not have right to indigenous homes.

Do you also support return of New York and other lands to First Nations?

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:37

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

It fits with your approach to the Congo, Sudan and Rohingya genocides.

Can't see, wont see.

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:36

CandidLurker · 28/05/2026 16:34

Man shouts aggressively at a woman in the street - calls her a bitch. I hope that’s an arrestable offence.

Yes it is! And rightly.

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:36

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:31

A thought experiment is not mockery. Try it.

And it could happen if the Odinists get their act together.

Your "thought experiment" is nothing but deriding and mocking Jewish claims to the land by making a ridiculous and totally inaccurate comparison which shows your bias and agenda. Jews are indigenous to Israel, they didnt ask to be expelled. The arch of Titus is there for.a reason.

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:35

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

CandidLurker · 28/05/2026 16:34

Man shouts aggressively at a woman in the street - calls her a bitch. I hope that’s an arrestable offence.

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:33

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:27

No no.
Digital divide: https://social.desa.un.org/sdn/29-billion-people-still-offline
[2.9 billion]

Gaza: see Ilan Pappé and others. Another example:
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/life-gaza-and-after-war-doctors-story

Praise be to the memory and legacy of the Warsaw Ghetto. May their spirits bring wisdom.

Edited

Yes, most people have access and there's plenty,.plenty of footage available from Congo and Sudan. There are enough people with mobile phones and Internet access (although true that Gaza was more developed and richer than many places) You dont see it ebcause you dont look and your social media algorithms dont show becuase youre not interested.

Good you support the heroes of the warsaw ghetto. Many of the survivors and their descendants live in Israel today. Thank goodness Jews now have somewhere to go and aren't at the mercy of others, whether Germans, Poles, Iraqis or Yemenis.

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:32

bloooooberry · 28/05/2026 16:30

I'll respond properly after I've washed off my blue hair dye.

Blooooooooooooooo suits you! Don't.

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:31

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:27

Yeah, except none of this is happening. Israel is the Jewish people's ancestral homeland from where they were forcibly expelled. Jews have always longed and prayed to return to zion.

The Arabs have many times been offered a compromise state and refused. They didnt want to share or recognise competing claims.

You can support Palestinians rights without mocking and deriding Jewish claims to the land. The tragedy is both israelis and Palestinians have a right to self determination and to live in that land and the only reasonable way is compromise.

BTW fun fact. When Jordan ruled Jerusalem from 1948-1967 (and didnt establish a Palestinian state in west bank btw) not only did they expel every single Jew, they also forbade Jews praying at the western wall. In fact, any foreigner visiting that site had to prove they weren't Jewish,.it was that important to them. Did you know that? If not, you're welcome.

A thought experiment is not mockery. Try it.

And it could happen if the Odinists get their act together.

bloooooberry · 28/05/2026 16:30

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:30

I have seen so many nonwomen and nonJews and nonJewish women...must inform them of the new non- status next time I see a march. \s

I'll respond properly after I've washed off my blue hair dye.

bloooooberry · 28/05/2026 16:30

GeneralPeter · 28/05/2026 15:40

This is semantics. In the Deep South, the KKK harassed or murdered white civil rights activists. Would you really be confused if someone called those racist attacks?

Racist attack = attack motivated by racism, no? Antisemitic attack = attack motivated by antisemitism.

They wouldn't be racist attacks, just like antizionism isn't antisemitism. 'Semantics' matter!

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:30

bloooooberry · 28/05/2026 16:28

What a strange post. Maybe educate yourself rather than getting your news from Facebook.

I have seen so many nonwomen and nonJews and nonJewish women...must inform them of the new non- status next time I see a march. \s

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:28

GeneralPeter · 28/05/2026 16:16

If you are being sincere then you are indeed extremely easily confused in a way that must be quite debilitating. "Racist attack = one motivated by racism" is a perfectly comprehensible, defensible and common conception of the term.

Edited

Perhaps you can start a thread about the American South, General.

bloooooberry · 28/05/2026 16:28

Twisterlollies · 28/05/2026 15:08

Because the Palestine mob are, underneath the Amazon Keffiyehs and blue hair, some of the worst most vile misogynists I’ve ever encountered. The rage and contempt that seethes in them for women is palpable, and if they get a whiff of a woman who doesn’t completely and unquestioningly agree with them, it’s like they go absolutely insane with anger and the most awful slurs come pouring out.

What a strange post. Maybe educate yourself rather than getting your news from Facebook.

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 16:27

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:12

Actually they do. As i said, of some sort. Might not be their own but there is some kind of access. Given that we were told that Gaza before 7/10 was a concentration camp/warsaw ghetto, one would assume phone ownership/Internet access to be the same as Sudan, Congo or Myanmar.
And in any case there is plenty of footage out there. Just doesn't get past the social media algorithms and engagement. No ones actually interested.

No no.
Digital divide: https://social.desa.un.org/sdn/29-billion-people-still-offline
[2.9 billion]

Gaza: see Ilan Pappé and others. Another example:
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/life-gaza-and-after-war-doctors-story

Praise be to the memory and legacy of the Warsaw Ghetto. May their spirits bring wisdom.

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:27

ThisBirdOnThatRoof · 28/05/2026 15:35

Israel/Palestine is also the cradle of Abrahamic religions and the holy places of Christians and Muslims are being destroyed or misappropriated or turned into museums. We have a direct stake if we are from those backgrounds.

Thought experiment: if a genuinely historically persecuted pagan minority existed in the Netherlands or Scandinavia and arrived in Britain and claimed the Cotswolds with Chinese or Russian backing on the basis of ancestral links and a religion most of us do not follow, how would we feel?

And would our boys be resistance heroes?

Yeah, except none of this is happening. Israel is the Jewish people's ancestral homeland from where they were forcibly expelled. Jews have always longed and prayed to return to zion.

The Arabs have many times been offered a compromise state and refused. They didnt want to share or recognise competing claims.

You can support Palestinians rights without mocking and deriding Jewish claims to the land. The tragedy is both israelis and Palestinians have a right to self determination and to live in that land and the only reasonable way is compromise.

BTW fun fact. When Jordan ruled Jerusalem from 1948-1967 (and didnt establish a Palestinian state in west bank btw) not only did they expel every single Jew, they also forbade Jews praying at the western wall. In fact, any foreigner visiting that site had to prove they weren't Jewish,.it was that important to them. Did you know that? If not, you're welcome.

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:20

SpringIsCome · 28/05/2026 15:49

Helen campaigned to keep Israel in the Eurovision this year even after the UN report on genocide

Explainer: How many Palestinians has Israel's Gaza offensive killed? | Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-many-palestinians-has-israels-gaza-offensive-killed-2025-10-07/

Edited

There has been no official determination of genocide. Thats the icc, icj or an international ad hoc tribunal. Everything is opinion.

And she has good reason for supporting Israel remaining in euro vision which is not racist or supporting violence in any way You may not agree with but shes entitled to her opinion without being misogynistically abused in the street.

balabusta · 28/05/2026 16:17

Trackstar · 28/05/2026 15:48

Helen Mirren talking about how she saw people being ethnically cleansed but it was still a 'magical time' went pretty viral there a few weeks ago. Obviously lots of people find that kind of thinking pretty odious but it's pretty odious to yell at people and call them a bitch too, it doesn't help anyone.

They weren't ethnically cleansed. I know the area of Jerusalem she is talking about. People were evicted to create the plaza in front of the western wall and they were Arab but that's becuase all the Jews in the Jewish quarter of the old city of Jerusalem where it was had been ethnically cleansed themselves 19 years previously. They weren't expelled and went to live in other parts of Jerusalem.
I imagine it wasn't nice but hardly the most egregious of acts. People are evicted by governments for many reasons all the time.