The disdain that far-left protesters show for historical artifacts, especially priceless works of art, has always been disgusting, but now it is even more disgusting.
Picking up where the insufferable climate protesters left off, a group of anti-Israel activists at the University of Cambridge in England destroyed a priceless 1914 painting of Arthur James Balfour by Philip Alexius de Laszlo.
The demonstrators posted a video of the incident on their account, the Palestinian Labor Organization, on the social media platform X. They sprayed red paint on the painting and then cut it without any shame.
Urgent: The Palestine Movement sprays and cuts a historical painting of Lord Balfour at Trinity College, Cambridge University.
The Balfour Declaration, written in 1917, marked the beginning of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by promising to deprive the land – something the British had no right to do at all. pic.twitter.com/CGmh8GadQG
– Palestinian Action (@Pal_action) March 8, 2024
They claimed that the reason for this destruction was to protest the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which, in their words, “began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by promising to take away the land – something the British never had the right to do.”
A spokeswoman for Trinity College in Cambridge issued a statement saying that Cambridge “regrets the damage caused to the image of Arthur James Balfour during public opening hours,” according to the New York Times.
The statement added that the police were notified of the incident.
Now, as the Times notes, anyone who has seen photos or footage of climate protesters in recent years knows that this is not a new way to protest.
However, the difference is that the paintings that were attacked, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa or Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, had protective covers and either suffered little or no damage.
But this time, these useless protesters have extensively destroyed a priceless painting, photographed this destruction and raised it to an X, and condemned the scenes of the dead man depicted with all the righteous indignation of an Old Testament prophet.
What do these protesters destroying works of art think they are going to achieve?
Sure, they get notoriety, but most people in the world who aren't fanatical about their cause wouldn't be convinced by a video of self-righteous liberals defacing works of art.
These demonstrators do not want to debate, nor do they want to argue.
Why do they shout at people, block traffic, and destroy priceless works of art?
They just want to use bullying tactics to intimidate and destroy.
Of course, this is the kind of protest that progressives encourage and enable, from harassing Supreme Court justices in their homes, to attaching themselves to museum pieces.
However, when encouraging this type of protest, what many progressive lawmakers, like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, don't realize is that they are playing with fire.
As AOC herself saw last weekend, and as Biden saw on his way to Thursday's State of the Union address, these progressive foot soldiers will eventually turn on their handlers on a dime.
And those same lawmakers won't get any sympathy when that happens.
This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.
