Palestine Action, a United Kingdom-based anti-Israel group, on Saturday carried out coordinated vandalism in several U.K. locations, including Manchester and Cambridge Universities.
Violence included defacing with red paint the Jewish National Fund offices in London and Cambridge University’s Institute of Manufacturing.
Palestine Action said it targeted the Cambridge Institute because it partners with Rolls-Royce, Siemens and BAE Systems, which the group has accused of “perpetrating genocide.”
The vandalism marked the 107th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917, a public statement by the British Government during World War I announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people,” an important step in the political process leading to the creation of modern Israel.
The declaration was due mainly to the efforts of Chaim Weizmann, who led world Jewry following WWI and became Israel’s first president.
Weizmann worked as a chemist at Manchester University during the war, making an important contribution to the war effort.
In perhaps the most brazen act, Palestine Action activists smashed a glass display case at the university’s chemistry building and stole two busts of Weizmann, posting a video of the theft on social media.
It said it had “abducted” the busts in protest against the Balfour Declaration, which it claimed “began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land away.”
The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region said in a statement that the community has always been proud of Weizmann and his accomplishments.
It described Palestine Action as “criminals” and said its destructive acts were part of a “pattern of behaviour” targeting “institutions and businesses who are linked with the State of Israel or businesses they perceive to undertake trade with Israel.”
The council urged the authorities and Home Secretary to bring the full force of the law against the group.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham tweeted: “I will ask Greater Manchester Police to ensure that there is the fullest possible investigation into this appalling act of vandalism and that those responsible are held to account.”
He added: “I will also support the University of Manchester in reassuring all students and staff, particularly those from the Jewish community, of their safety on campus.”
In June, Palestine Action took credit for vandalizing 10 Barclays bank branches across the United Kingdom, smashing windows and defacing their exteriors with red paint. It claimed that Barclays “funds climate destruction and genocide in Palestine.”
The group took credit for Barclays’ decision to sell 16,345 shares worth more than $3.4 million in Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense firm. Barclays denied it sold the shares due to a yearlong pressure campaign from Palestine Action.
In March, an anti-Israel activist was filmed by Palestine Action defacing and slashing a 1914 painting of Lord Arthur Balfour at Trinity College, which is part of Cambridge University.
The painting was by Hungarian artist Philip Alexius de László.
“Normally our direct action campaign is focused on Israel’s weapons trade in Britain. However, it’s necessary to highlight Britain’s historic and current role in the colonization of Palestine which roots back to the Balfour declaration,” the group posted on social media.
