Editing Maureen Lipman (section)

===Pro-Israel activism===

Lipman supported [[Israel]] during the [[2006 Lebanon War|2006 Israel–Hezbollah conflict]]. On 13 July 2006, in a debate on the BBC's ''[[This Week (2003 TV programme)|This Week]]'', she argued that "human life is not cheap to the Israelis, and human life on the other side is quite cheap actually, because they strap bombs to people and send them to blow themselves up." These comments were condemned by columnist [[Yasmin Alibhai-Brown]] who said "Brutally straight, she sees no equivalence between the lives of the two tribes".<ref>{{cite news |first=Yasmin |last=Alibhai-Brown |author-link=Yasmin Alibhai-Brown |url=http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/article1181666.ece |title=Nothing but anti-Arab racism can fully explain the behaviour of the Israelis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719031841/http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/article1181666.ece |archive-date=19 July 2006 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=17 July 2006 |url-status=dead |access-date=31 July 2006 }}</ref> Lipman responded to Alibhai-Brown's accusation of racism by arguing that the columnist had deliberately misrepresented Lipman's comments as generalisations about Muslims rather than specific comments about terrorists.<ref>{{cite web |first=Maureen |last=Lipman |url=http://comment.independent.co.uk/letters/article1185316.ece |title=Letters: It is wrong to call Israel a racist state |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=19 July 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720171816/http://comment.independent.co.uk/letters/article1185316.ece |archive-date=20 July 2006 |access-date=5 September 2006}}</ref>

In ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'', Lipman argued that media reporting of the conflict was "heavily distorted":
{{cquote|There is rarely any film of rockets being fired into Israel, nor any mention of the damage, nor of the 250,000 refugees who have fled to the centre of Israel, nor of rockets targeting Israel every day since it withdrew from [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]], nor the damage done by 100 Hezbollah rockets a day...

More people are being killed in [[São Paulo]], [[Somalia]] and [[Darfur]] than in this conflict. Where is the coverage? It is as if the [[Iraq War]] has completely stopped while this blanket coverage in [[Lebanon]] goes on and on and on... I sometimes think Israel should ban the press as [[Zimbabwe]] has. They are a democracy, though, and behave accordingly...

I respect freedom of speech, but I'm contemptuous of the 300 signatories [to the anti-Invasion ''Times'' advert and the ''Independent'' letter]. To English, assimilated, sometimes self-despising Jews such as [[Gerald Kaufman]] and [[Harold Pinter]], I say: where are you going to go when the shit hits the fan? It doesn't matter if you stand in Parliament or marry into the aristocracy, there will be no Israel to receive you, as they have received so many before. Why didn't they put their ad in an Israeli newspaper? Because it is more important to impress their fellow Englishmen than to effect change in the situation. Where are their signatures against Burma, [[Nepal]], Tibet and Zimbabwe?...<ref>{{cite web |first=Maureen |last=Lipman |url= http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s19s116&SecId=116&AId=45401&ATypeId=1 |title=Prominent Jews speak out on the war |work=[[The Jewish Chronicle]] |date=3 August 2006 |access-date=5 August 2006 }}</ref>}}

In May 2015, Lipman joined pro-Israel groups including the [[Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland|Zionist Federation]] in a protest outside the London premiere of a Palestinian play, ''[[The Siege (play)|The Siege]]'', at [[Battersea Arts Centre]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Firsht |first1=Naomi |title=Maureen Lipman joins protest outside theatre staging ''The Siege'' |url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/136602/maureen-lipman-joins-protest-outside-theatre-staging-the-siege |work=[[The Jewish Chronicle]] |date=20 May 2015 |access-date=24 May 2015 }}</ref>

In an interview with ''[[The Guardian]]'' on 18 August 2020, Lipman inaccurately asserted that [[Hezbollah]] had claimed responsibility for the [[2020 Beirut explosion]], stating: "I'm very grateful that Hezbollah said they did it". She intimated that she would not be prepared to work alongside some pro-Palestinian actors, citing [[Maxine Peake]] and [[Miriam Margolyes]] as examples.<ref name="Guardian 18 Aug"/>

In 2024, Lipman said that protests against Israel are "close to [[fascism]]".<ref>{{cite news |title=Left-wing actors' protests against Israel are close to fascism, says Maureen Lipman |url=https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/left-wing-actors-protests-against-israel-are-close-to-fascism-says-maureen-lipman/ar-BB1lbiQF |website=The Telegraph}}</ref> She said, "These bleeding heartless [[liberalism|liberals]] care so deeply for the Palestinians? That they espouse their cause at the expense of every other oppressed people of the world... Shame. Shame. Shame on every one of you."<ref>{{cite news |last=Quadri |first=Sami |date=24 October 2023 |title=Maureen Lipman says ITV offered her security following Israel-Hamas remarks |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/maureen-lipman-coronation-street-itv-security-protection-israel-hamas-antisemitism-b1115521.html |access-date=7 April 2024 |website=Evening Standard }}</ref>