Oscar-winners Helen Mirren and Aaron Sorkin both expressed their strong support for Israel while attending the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles as special honorees, the Jewish Journal reported Thursday.

Mirren, speaking of her love for Israel, shared her experience working on a Kibbutz and sleeping on the beach in Eilat while visiting the country in 1967. The actress further noted that Israel played a significant role in her career.

“My visit to Israel is part of the building blocks that have made me into the actress that I am,” she said. “I think that through all the difficulties and all the pain that Israel has suffered in the past and will in the future, the great thing that Israel has is Israelis.”

Mirren also denounced efforts to boycott the country, saying, “I completely agree with Hilary [Mantel] and J. K. Rowling, a cultural boycott is really a bad idea.” Last week, over 150 British artists including J.K. Rowling, Booker Prize-winner Hilary Mantel, and renowned historian Simon Schama signed a letter condemning cultural boycotts of Israel as “divisive and discriminatory.”

Mirren’s comments can be found in the video embedded below.

Sorkin, in turn, similarly took the opportunity to discuss his feelings on the Jewish state. When asked what first came to his mind when he thought about Israel, the screenwriter answered, “Fear, to be perfectly honest.” In explaining his response, Sorkin said, “this remarkable country, so small is surrounded by so many enemies. We forget that in the U.S. we have friendly neighbors to the north and south and oceans to the east and west, but that Israel doesn’t have that luxury. It couldn’t be more important to support Israel.”

The video embedded below contains the complete exchange.

[Photo: Jewish Journal / YouTube ]