Pro-Palestine Demonstrators Deface Balfour Painting at Cambridge University

A pro-Palestine group said it destroyed a historic painting of British statesman Arthur James Balfour with red paint, in an act of protest “symbolizing the bloodshed of the Palestinian people since the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917.”

Video released by the activist group Palestine Action on Friday, March 8, shows a person slashing at and spraying the painting of Lord Balfour. The 1914 portrait by artist Philip Alexius de Laszlo was displayed inside Trinity College, at the University of Cambridge.

Balfour cemented British support for a Jewish homeland with the Balfour Declaration, which set the stage for Israel’s founding. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905, and was Foreign Secretary from 1916 to 1919.

Police said they are investigating the incident, but that no arrests have been made yet, according to local reports. Credit: Palestine Action via Storyful

Video transcript

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