Pro-Palestine mob destroys historic Tory Lord Balfour painting at Cambridge University

A pro-Palestine mob has destroyed a historic painting of a top Conservative at Cambridge University. Palestine Action targeted the painting of Lord Balfour at Cambridge’s Trinity College this afternoon.

In footage posted online by the group, an activist can be seen spraying the painting with what appears to be red paint before slashing it a number of times.

Palestine Action shared the video online, under a comment claiming responsibility, just before 2.30pm on Friday (March 8).

Lord Balfour was a Conservative politician who gave his name to the Balfour Declaration in November 1917, which was issued by the British Government on the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

A spokesperson for the college said: “Trinity College regrets the damage caused to a portrait of Arthur James Balfour during public opening hours. The police have been informed. Support is available for any member of the College community affected.”

Cambridgeshire Police said it received a report online this afternoon of criminal damage to a painting at Trinity College, Cambridge.

The force said in a statement: “Officers are attending the scene to secure evidence and progress the investigation. No arrests have been made at this stage.”

In a statement posted on its website, Palestine Action said it “ruined” the painting by Philip Alexius de László inside Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

It added: “An activist slashed the homage and sprayed the artwork with red paint, symbolising the bloodshed of the Palestinian people since the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917.”

Palestine Action claim Balfour gave away the Palestinians homeland, arguing that until 1948 the British “burnt down” indigenous villages to prepare the way for the state of Israel.

The group’s statement continued: “With this came arbitrary killings, arrests, torture, sexual violence including rape against women and men, the use of human shields and the introduction of home demolitions as collective punishment to repress Palestinian resistance.

“The British were initiating the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, fulfilling the Zionist aim to build their ‘home’ over the top of what were Palestinian communities, towns, villages, farms and ancestral land.”

Palestine Action said since 1948 the “Zionist regime” has continued to “ethnically cleanse” the Palestinian people, culminating in “an intensified genocide in Gaza”.

The group said: “Britain’s support for the continued colonisation of Palestine hasn’t wavered since 1917.”

Israel launched its air, sea and ground offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 others.

The latest figures raise the total Gaza death toll to 30,878 since the Israel-Hamas war started five months ago, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The overall number of wounded has risen to 72,402.

The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but said 72 percent were women and children

Palestine Action’s latest protest comes a few days after activists from the group targeted Smiths Metals in Bedfordshire, claiming the company was complicit in what is happening in Gaza through its supply of components for F-35 fighter jets they said are used by Israel to bomb the territory.

The group’s activists chained themselves to an office of BNY Mellon in Manchester at the end of February, accusing the bank of investing £10million in Elbit Systems, an Israeli based military technology firm and defence contractor with a base in the UK.

Twickenham Stadium was also targeted by Palestine Action activists who sprayed red paint on the home of English rugby in protest over its hosting an arms fair.

Palestine Action’s protest in Cambridge came on the same day it emerged the UK will join the US and other allies to create a maritime corridor to deliver aid directly to Gaza.

US President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address on Thursday (March 7) to announce US troops would establish a temporary port on the Gaza coast aimed at increasing the flow of aid into the territory.

The move follows mounting concern about the level of aid getting into Gaza by land, with international bodies warning of an impending famine if current restrictions continue.

Lord Cameron, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, said on Friday the UK would be working with the US to provide aid by sea. He tweeted: “People in Gaza are in desperate humanitarian need.

“Alongside the US, the UK and partners have announced we will open a maritime corridor to deliver aid directly to Gaza.

“We continue to urge Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza as the fastest way to get aid to those who need it.”