A group of pro-Palestine protesters invaded Trinity College, at the University of Cambridge, in England, this Friday (8), and vandalized a portrait of former British Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour (1848-1930) , who authored the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which supported the creation of a national home for the Jewish people.
The group, called Palestine Action, posted a video on social media of a woman spraying red paint and tearing up the painting, which was painted in 1914 by artist Philip Alexius de László. The group said it was an “act of protest” against “the bloodshed of the Palestinian people since the Balfour Declaration was issued.”
UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden condemned the act of vandalism and said those responsible must be punished under the law. A Trinity College spokeswoman expressed regret for the damage caused to the portrait and said the police had been notified. Cambridge police said they are investigating the case as “criminal mischief.”
The Balfour Declaration was a letter sent by the then Foreign Secretary, on 2 November 1917, to the leader of the British Jewish community, in which he expressed the British government's support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in the region of which they now call Palestine. The declaration is considered one of the most important documents for the founding of Israel in 1948.
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