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Attack on Balfour portrait in Trinity College, University of Cambridge (screenshots from the video by the group Palestine Action)

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dpa

Red paint and deep cuts: Pro-Palestinian activists have damaged a painting by former politician Arthur James Balfour in Great Britain.

The group Palestine Action released a video showing the action at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

According to the police, there have been no arrests yet and the investigation is ongoing.

The background to the action is obviously that Balfour is associated with the founding of the State of Israel.

During the First World War, Balfour (1848 to 1930), as British Foreign Secretary, assured in a letter to the British Zionist Lionel Walter Rothschild that he would support the plan for a national home for Jews in Palestine - the "Balfour Declaration".

The declaration paved the way for the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, but also for a war with its Arab neighbors and the flight and expulsion of around 700,000 Palestinians.

On the Palestinian side, the letter is therefore viewed as a historical mistake.

A Cambridge university spokesperson told the PA news agency that support was available to anyone in the university community affected by the case.

British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden tweeted that he was appalled by this "imbecilic act of wanton vandalism."

The perpetrators should feel the full force of the law.

Attacks are increasing

There have been international pro-Palestinian protests since the beginning of the Gaza war, triggered by the massacre of Israel by the radical Islamic group Hamas on October 7th.

And also attacks on Jewish institutions and people.

Also in Germany – and also in an academic context.

In Great Britain, the British government recently criticized the mood during pro-Palestinian protests.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that people were of course allowed to demonstrate.

However, support for the people in the Gaza Strip should not turn into a justification for Hamas' actions.

The war is causing a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.

hba/dpa/Reuters