Jewish soap star is hired as a personal bodyguard while filming outdoor scenes

A British soap star has been given a security guard during filming following a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the UK.

Veteran actress Dame Maureen Lipman was spotted filming scenes for a long-running soap opera Coronation Street this week in Manchester, accompanied by a security guard from her employer ITV.

The sun reports that the decision to assign security to the actress stems from her comments criticizing other celebrities who signed a petition by Artists for Palestine UK calling for Israeli strikes on Gaza in response to the Hamas incursion on October 7 sentenced

Lipman, who is Jewish, called these signatories “heartless liberals” and publicly stated at an event:

“When babies are strangled, women are dragged by their hair, and a family’s eyeballs are gouged out and fingers are chopped off in front of their children, do you really believe that Israeli blockades on the Gaza border are a justification for such violence?”

“Have these bigoted signatories no soul and no judgment?”

“Those bloody, heartless liberals who care so much about the Palestinians?

“That they support their cause at the expense of all other oppressed people in the world.” . . Shame on you, shame on you, shame on you all.”

The sun quotes Lipman expressing surprise at the decision to increase his security, but saying, “Here we are now.”

The Community Security Trust recorded a record 805 antisemitic incidents in the UK in the 21 days after October 7, more than in the first six months of this year.