A pro-Palestinian group took credit for the vandalism of a painting at Cambridge University today.
In video posted on social media by Palestine Action, a member of the group is seen spray-painting and slashing the portrait at Trinity College. A woman can be seen defacing the work with red paint before slicing the canvas with a sharp object.
Balfour was one of the chief supporters of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine, cemented by the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which gave British backing to the movement.
A nephew of Lord Salisbury, he succeeded his uncle as prime minister in 1902 and subsequently became foreign secretary.
The group behind the vandalism made clear they targeting this painting because of Balfour’s role in the creation of Israel:
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.
Arthur Balfour, then UK Foreign secretary, issued a declaration which promised to build “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, where the majority of the indigenous population were not Jewish. He gave away the Palestinians homeland — a land that wasn’t his to give away…
Since 1948, the Zionist regime continued to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people which has now culminated in an intensified genocide in Gaza, which 20 United Nations experts refer to as the second Nakba. Calls for a second Nakba were repeatedly made by Israeli leaders before October 7th.
In the past 154 days of genocide in Gaza, Israel has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, injured over 72,000 and displaced over 1.9 million — 80% of the Gaza population.
No mention of Hamas, or of the attack on Israel on 10/7, as if none of that matters. And all of the victims of the current war are just “Palestinians.” Apparently Israel hasn’t killed a single Hamas terrorist over the past five months. Really, this whole statement is a justification for Hamas’ terrorism. These are Hamas supporters.
Of course we’ve all seen this sort of vandalism many times before at this point, but in most previous cases paintings attacked with paint, soup or glue have been protected by a layer of glass. Not so in this case. This time the painting itself was slashed with a razor multiple times and sprayed with spray paint.
Defacing art has become a popular protest tactic in recent years. It is perhaps most closely associated with environmentalists, who have targeted paintings by van Gogh, Vermeer and Monet. This year, two women from an environmental group entered the Louvre and flung soup at the Mona Lisa. Most of the paintings that have been targeted were covered or protected in some way, and very few were damaged.
In recent weeks, pro-Palestinian protesters have targeted art in New York.
This week, a few dozen demonstrators disrupted the opening of an Israeli artist’s show at a Manhattan gallery, Hyperallergic reported. Last month, protesters interrupted a conversation featuring an Israeli artist whose drawings depicting Oct. 7 are being exhibited at the Jewish Museum and dozens chanted “Free Palestine” in a demonstration at the Museum of Modern Art.
I don’t see any word of an arrest yet but it shouldn’t be hard given that the whole thing was caught on video. It’s possible to express political opinions without destroying 100 year old works of art. Clearly the members of this group haven’t learned that yet. Here’s hoping their Taliban tactics earn them a serious stint in jail, not just for the person with the razor but for any comrades (including the camera person) who helped plan this. Failure to arrest and punish those responsible will inevitably result in more of this kind of vandalism.
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
He’s got a good point:
“We’ll just keep destroying things until you give us what we want” is at least in line with their ideological cause. https://t.co/Xx608iEsLi
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) March 8, 2024