A portrait of Lord Balfour, the former British Prime Minister, at Cambridge University was damaged by a pro-Palestinian demonstrator.
In a video posted by the Palestinian Action Organization on social media, a member of the group is seen drawing and cutting out the image at Trinity College. A woman can be seen smearing the work with red paint before cutting the fabric with a sharp object.
British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur Balfour poses for the camera in 1930. credit: AP
Balfour was a major proponent of the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which was reinforced by the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which gave British support to the movement.
The Instagram video was accompanied by a caption that read: “Palestine Action sprays and cuts a historic 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 alienate the land – something the British had no right to do at all.
The British paved the way for the Nakba and trained Zionist militias to ethnically cleanse more than 750,000 Palestinians, destroying more than 500 villages and slaughtering many families. The Nakba never stopped, and today's genocide is rooted in and supported by British complicity.
A Trinity College spokesperson said: “Trinity College regrets the damage caused to the image of Arthur James Balfour during public opening hours. The police have been informed. Support is available to any member of the college community who is affected.”
A Cambridge Police spokesman said: “This afternoon we received an online report of criminal damage to a painting at Trinity College, Cambridge.
