On the 107th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, anti-Israel activists stole busts of Israel’s first president, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, from the University of Manchester, British police confirmed Saturday, adding they have opened an investigation.
The group behind the act, Palestine Action, frequently posts images of anti-Israel vandalism on social media and claimed responsibility for the theft.
Anti-Israel activists stealing busts of Israel’s first president, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, from the University of Manchester
(Video: from social media)
In footage shared on platform X, two masked individuals are seen shattering a glass window and removing the busts, accusing Weizmann, a key figure in gaining British support for a Jewish homeland, of contributing to "ethnic cleansing."
The Balfour Declaration, issued on November 2, 1917, was a pivotal endorsement by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, supporting the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. Weizmann’s contributions to Britain’s WWI efforts were instrumental in securing this historic backing, which marked a breakthrough for the Zionist movement.
Palestine Action marked the Balfour anniversary with a series of vandalism attacks, claiming in posts that it had "defaced the offices of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in London" and targeted the British Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), calling it a "prominent Israeli lobbying group." The activists further asserted they had “damaged the University of Cambridge’s manufacturing institute," citing Balfour's education there.
In June, Palestine Action members allegedly vandalized 10 branches of Barclays Bank across the UK, breaking windows and defacing storefronts with red paint, stating their actions were a coordinated effort to highlight the bank's ties to companies supporting Israeli defense forces.
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