Sara Menai (in the United Kingdom) / Photo credits: HANDOUT / PALESTINE ACTION / AFP
A portrait of Lord Arthur Balfour, former Foreign Secretary, signing the 1917 declaration in favor of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine was vandalized at Cambridge University on Friday by an activist from the Palestine group Action.
In the United Kingdom, a painting hanging in the grounds of the prestigious University of Cambridge, northeast of London, was vandalized on Friday by an activist from the Palestine Action group. The work depicted Arthur Balfour, a former British Foreign Secretary, signatory of the 1917 declaration in favor of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. The incident took place in a context of tensions in the United Kingdom around the war in Gaza: since October 7, anti-Semitic acts have exploded across the Channel.
“There are no-go zones for Jews in London”
“These are very, very shocking images, it’s pure destruction.” An activist from the Palestine Action movement destroyed the painting using a cutter and red paint. The activist has not yet been arrested. The University declined to comment. So can we destroy everything that doesn’t please us or offends us? This is the question asked by the press this Saturday morning.
BREAKING: Palestine Action spray and slash a historic painting of Lord Balfour in Trinity College, University of Cambridge.
Written in 1917, Balfour’s declaration began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by promising the land away — which the British never had the right to do. pic.twitter.com/CGmh8GadQG
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) March 8, 2024
A question asked in the context of the importation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict onto British soil. On the same day, Robin Simcox, government adviser on the fight against extremism, estimated that London would no longer be a safe place at weekends for people of the Jewish faith. Words which caused a lot of reaction on British television sets. “There are no-go zones for Jews in London and Birmingham. As Mr. Simcox says, it’s the truth,” “I think he’s saying out loud what the Jewish community has already known for a some time,” we heard. In 2023, the country saw a 147% increase in anti-Semitic acts.