Palestine Action protester sprays and slashes painting of architect of modern Israel
Protest group Palestine Action has defaced a painting of Lord Balfour at Trinity College, Cambridge, spraying it with red paint and slashing it.
The Tory politician gave his name to the Balfour Declaration – a statement by the then-British government on the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, paving the way for the founding of Israel in 1948.
With Israel now engaged in the systematic genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, it is easy to understand why some organisations would want to protest the UK’s part in that country’s creation.
Here’s video of the attack on the painting:
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
The act – which is a crime, of course; criminal damage – has been hugely controversial. Some have approved wholeheartedly, but others have been appalled at the destruction of a work of art – a view that has sparked harsh responses:
The Balfour portrait should be replaced by a photo of a Palestinian child, dismembered, burnt and shredded by Israeli bombs, supplied by UK arms manufacturers.
— Mannie Quinn (@MannieMighty1) March 9, 2024
Think of anyone, or any institution, you know in the public eye and see which of these two images has prompted them to make some sort of public declaration of horror and disgust. pic.twitter.com/OWvRRkci0P
— andy peacock (@AndyPeacock999) March 9, 2024
200 civilians will be blown up or starved to death in Gaza today, if you are crying over a painting.
You‘re the problem.
— BladeoftheSun (@BladeoftheS) March 9, 2024
Fuck Lord Balfour and fuck all the little fascists who are about to come seeping out of the woodwork like maggots to tell us a painting is more important to them than tens of thousands of Palestinian lives
— Tiberius (@ecomarxi) March 8, 2024
Genocide ought to be met by a wall of opposition that does not melt in the face of the politics of reaction, repression and distraction. Whatever one thinks of this tactic, no form of protest defending Palestinian lives and culture has been deemed acceptable by those policing it. https://t.co/nPnSZiCX6W
— Aaron Winter (@aaronzwinter) March 9, 2024
Who’s got a good study on why British people love the taste of aristocratic boot so much they are more appalled by a painting of a Lord being damaged – one they didn’t know existed – than 30k+ people dying and survivors being intentionally starved in Gaza
— 🇧🇧🏳️🌈 / 🆓🇵🇸 m a r c u s (@marcusjdl) March 8, 2024
This Writer understands that the painting can be restored, so the attack on it was a symbolic gesture.
Whose side do you take?
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