“We must challenge complicity wherever we see it, so today we showed the world the true colours of these institutes of death; blood on the institution’s walls for blood on the institution’s hands.”
Palestine Action activists have marked 107 years since the signing of the Balfour Declaration by removing two sculptures of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, from a display case at the University of Manchester on Saturday.
The activists, in collaboration with Cambridge University students, also sprayed the walls of the facility’s Institute for Manufacturing, for “complicity in the genocide” of Palestinians.
“(Arthur) Balfour, who signed away the land of Palestine, was educated by the university. Today, the institute works with weapons companies arming genocide,” Palestine Action said on X, accompanied by photos of walls defaced with red paint.
‘Ethnic Cleansing’
Alongside video footage of activists breaking the display case, and taking the busts of the former Israeli official, Palestine Action said: “Weizmann secured the Balfour Declaration, a British pledge written 107 years ago, which began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land away.”
“Cambridge educated Balfour and, until direct action destroyed it, his portrait was hung in Trinity College,” the activist group said in a statement.
BREAKING: Palestine Action abduct sculptures of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, from the University of Manchester.
Weizmann secured the Balfour Declaration, a British pledge written 107 years ago, which began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land away. pic.twitter.com/a8urQciod5
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 2, 2024
The university’s “complicity in the genocide of the Palestinians runs deep; the criminology department at Cambridge University helps train ‘israeli’ police and military; the Department of Material Science partners with ‘israeli’ arms companies to produce armoured vehicles; Rolls-Royce operates out of the Institute for Manufacturing,” the statement added.
“We must challenge complicity wherever we see it, so today we showed the world the true colours of these institutes of death; blood on the institution’s walls for blood on the institution’s hands,” it continued.
JNF and BICOM Targeted
The group also targeted the London office of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) saying the JNF raises “funds to demolish Palestinian homes and build settlements on top of stolen Palestinian land – a recognized war crime. Amongst their honorary patrons is the prime minister of Israel.”
The office of Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) in London was also singled out for attack, with the building walls sprayed with red paint.
BREAKING: On Balfour day, Palestine Action target Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) in London.
BICOM is one of the most influential Israel lobby groups in this country, funded by wealth made from manufacturing Israeli weapons.
Dismantle zionism. pic.twitter.com/0ReH6OzQYT
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 2, 2024
“BICOM is one of the most influential Israel lobby groups in this country, funded by wealth made from manufacturing Israeli weapons,” the group said on X, adding “Dismantle Zionism.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews issued a statement condemning “the thuggery and vandalism in London, Manchester and Cambridge” by the group.
UK ‘an Active Participant’
Manchester police reportedly said it was investigating reports “of a burglary” at the university.
Saturday marked the 107th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, authored by Arthur Balfour, in which he proclaimed “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
Palestine Action Activists Charged Under UK Terrorism Act For Targeting Elbit
Palestine Action stressed that “Balfour promised away the land of Palestine – which he never had the right to do.”
“From the Balfour Declaration to today, the UK remains an active participant in the colonisation, genocide and occupation of Palestine,” the group said.
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
Civilians Trapped amid Israeli Bombardment – New Massacres in Northern Gaza, Nuseirat
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,314 Palestinians have been killed, and 102,019 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Famine and Displacement
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Three people were killed and a number wounded in an Israeli bombing of a house in Jabaliya al-Balad, in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Zc6OWxFc3n
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) November 3, 2024
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
