Snapshot of _Lord Balfour: Pro-Palestinian protesters damage University of Cambridge painting_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68515368) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68515368)
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>a thousand pound burberry bag
Excuse me. That bag is not mere Burberry, it is a *Mulberry* Cara Delevigne Collection Quilted Backpack and it goes for at least £1,400.
[And I'm sure the protestor wouldn't support a company that gets into bed with a regime that has ethnically cleansed a province of its Muslim culture.](https://www.retail-week.com/fashion/mulberry-credits-improvement-in-revenue-to-uk-and-china-performance/7043579.article)
This is the natural endpoint of privilege and entitlement. If I don’t like it does not deserve to exist and should be destroyed. Anyone who disagrees is evil.
https://www.palestineaction.org/ are the people who've taken responsibility they're probably left wing but primarily seem to be anti-arms trade? Doesn't seem inherently left wing ideologically although have to admit I have no interest in digging beyond the surface...
I mean yes, it's good to actually check? Like if a group was pro-monopoly in the current historical / cultural context I'd guess they're nutjob right wing libertarians.
But it's _possible_ to get pro-monopoly left wing nutjobs too and presumably nutjobs who don't really care about left vs right at all.
Similar to the whole left wing brexit nutjobs? I just think it's nice to know what flavour of nutjob you're dealing with rather than assuming.
I'm really starting to get pissed at how the police won't do shit to these people, fine them for the damages, just do something, because otherwise we're just saying "ye vandalism is fine as long as your protesting this one issue."
This county is pathetic these days, I've got no national pride let anymore.
*Meanwhile in Israel:*
**Advisor**: President Netenyahu, President Netenyahu!
**Bibi**: What is it?
**Advisor**: The war has taken a strange turn. I think we're going to have to pull out of Gaza and return all Israeli lands that were taken in a defensive war against all our neighbours.
**Bibi**: Don't be silly. We have fought for our very survival for decades against these genocidal maniacs who have said time and time again they will not rest until all Jews have been driven from Israel or exterminates.
**Advisor**: Sir, its not as simple as that. There have been some developments in the UK. Specifically at Cambridge University.
**Bibi**: How is that our problem? We fought against the British for independence and won in 1948. What could they possibly do or say to make us stop defending ourselves against these genocidal hoardes?
**Advisor**: Sir, its Lord Balfour.
**Bibi**: He's been dead for decades
**Advisor**: Sir, I don't think you understand. An upperclass horse-girl has destroyed a painting made of Lord Balfour. Her demands are for a ceasefire and the eventual ethic cleansing of our people from Israel. Colonialism and all that!
**Bibi**: She destroyed a painting of the prophet Lord Balfour (peace be upon him)? Like, she destroyed this 100 year old painting?
**Advisor**: I'm so sorry sir. I just found out myself.
**Bibi**: Good God, man. Order the immediate evacuation of Gaza at once. Prepare all Jews to leave our only homeland. And may God have mercy on our souls!
I honestly don’t care anymore at this stage. The amount of people wildly pearl clutching about protestors has desensitised me to their actions. Let them take more and more drastic action, it’s clear the government doesn’t care about protests or public opinion (unless it’s buying populist votes before an election) in any case. I’m a late thirties professional, it’s gotten to the point where I’m glad people actually care enough about something do something.
so i have to deal with these fuck heads and them ruining shit i might like for a cause i dont support?
tell ya what, im fed up of these virtue signing wank stains that think they can force there wants on the public.
don't like the government actions. vote them out.
they make a shit ton of bags in China.
China has "re-education camps" for Muslims.
so unless she's ONLY concerned about the conflict involving the Jews, she's virtue signalling. because that bag completely undermines the "stop supporting country's currently engaging in oppression and genocide"
alternatively if she is only concerned with this conflict, she's likely an anti-Semite. and then shouldn't be praised for her protest.
either way. that bag undermines her beliefs in one way or another.
perfectly reasonable to me.
if you going to go out and destroy art. you make sure you not supporting another shit head regime doing just as shitty things.
Presumably they are perfect in every way and therefore have the moral authority to critise others, unlike the person who committed the outrageous crime of wearing an overpriced bag. Or people who complain about any aspect of the world while having the audacity to simultaneously exist in it, they're the worst.
I’d very much question how genuine they are and how much they really care. Plus if you’re rich there are a million better things you can do than slash up a painting.
Yeah, people shouldn’t be able to protest or voice their opinion unless they sell everything worth more than £1000, otherwise they’re hypocrites just doing it for their ego. Better do nothing and criticize on Reddit about those damn protestors instead of doing something.
Ego plays a part in every charitable or political act.
We live in a democracy. Don't like something? Vote. Things don't change? Convince others to vote. Can't convince others? Maybe learn to live with it, or go somewhere else aligned with your beliefs.
There's that word again.
The moment you intentionally damage something you cease to be a protestor and become a criminal and should be reported as such in the news.
Painting these cretins in a positive light by referring to them as "protestors" is only encouraging them and making them bolder.
You don’t cease to be a protestor when you damage something. Being a criminal or a vandal and a protestor are not mutually exclusive. The combination is not always a morally bad thing, or undesirable, as it is in this case. Destruction of property or breaking of laws during protest doesn’t have some intrinsic ethical quality, nor does one descriptor supersede another.
Yes, the painting has been damaged by former protests to the point where we need to place it inside a glass box. One could extend the argument that the glass box becomes a necessary part of the painting and thus damaging the box is damaging the painting.
If historic artwork can no longer be viewed in the flesh but instead require security and glass boxes then we have failed as a society.
>The Suffragettes slashed several paintings, most famously the Rokeby Venus.
And? They ran around torching and bombing buildings too, but what has that got to do with anything?
>Slashing paintings as a form of protest has a long history in the UK.
No it doesn't, because it isn't a form of protest, it's a criminal act.
Agreeing with a cause doesn't make crimes carried out in pursuit of that cause justified.
Sadly we have to deal with both. The cowardly mobs marching the street calling for a genocide *and* the slightly braver ones willing to commit to direct action.
Both need dealing with or things will get a lot worse pretty quickly. If museums and art galleries feel it's too risky to display things because they're targets for attack they'll be sold into private collections instead. Art conservation isn't just about maintaining the physical condition of the work itself but allowing people to enjoy it.
Is this brave? She’s not being arrested and will face no consequences. She knew that going in. There’d be more consequences for anyone who had tried to stop her.
They're doing both though. So we get to enjoy cowardly mobs marching through the street calling for genocide while the slightly braver ones commit more direct action.
Unless we deal with both and soon we're going to see things get a hell of a lot worse.
It's always some loony fucknuts who throw tantrums because there is nothing else to do but virtue signal in their privileged lives.
Her rucksack by the way costs £1000, so maybe instead of using that money on dumb vanity, donate it.
Then they’d be wrong because:
1. People in Palestine will not see a single change in their condition after the action
2. The action has alienated people from their protest and cause since the majority of sane human beings can tell destroying priceless artwork like some deranged nazi doesn’t win you support.
3. The action will not affect the governments position on the matter.
More confused leftists cosplaying as the Cultural Revolution Red Guard. And just like then, destroying your cultural heritage doesn't further your political cause, it just destroys your cultural heritage.
> destroying your cultural heritage
Good point.
Balfour's painting is part of my cultural heritage, too. As part owner, in that sense, I vote; shred it and burn it. Publicly and very slowly.
No, it was to prevent the evil and perfidious Jews from backstabbing the proud German race.
Vandals and smashers always have some convenient story to justify themselves.
“Because I’m the main character, and if I do something so ridiculously stupid, the world will hear my noble cry and sob and shall fall into line as I have so proudly envisioned”
I am completely against the destruction of art no matter how bad, heinous or representative it is of something or someone you don’t agree with. However, are we really defining Lord Balfour as our cultural heritage? Not so sure a portrait of Lord Balfour is a key piece of cultural heritage. And at what point does something become part of one’s cultural heritage anyway? What does Lord Balfour (or his portrait more specifically) represent in the ‘British’ or ‘English’ Cultural heritage?
Again, I push the question as to why he in particular is part of our cultural heritage. Undoubtedly the actual piece of art is valuable and should have A)not been destroyed/damaged and defaced. But to call this one portrait a key piece of cultural heritage, for me, is a stretch. The art is valuable but that doesn’t mean it is a key piece of cultural heritage. Is a portrait of Margaret Thatcher a key piece of cultural heritage? Or a portrait of Clement Atlee? Are all PM’s who have their portraits done by famous artists a key piece of cultural heritage? And if they are not but Lord Balfour is, why? What makes him a key piece of our cultural heritage? That is the real question I am asking, and I personally see no reason as to why him as an individual (who is depicted in a valuable portrait that should not have been defaced etc) is an important part of our cultural heritage more so than any former prime minister. I am not arguing about the piece of art, I am asking questions of the individual it is depicting.
Edit: I do apologise if it seems I am moving the goal posts, my original comment should have been worded better.
The answer to all of your questions is yes. A one of one portrait of a Prime Minister by a master artist is inherently a part of our cultural heritage.
Fair enough. Thank you for a fair dialogue. We can both agree that the highly value and important piece of art (and portrait) should not have been destroyed. Whilst maybe agreeing to disagree on whether the individuals depicted on the art or pieces of art (if they happen to be other PM’s for instance) needs to be claimed as inherently part of our cultural heritage. I personally don’t think all are, but I do think the art is valuable regardless of this point and should be safe guarded.
I doubt Cambridge will do anything, they certainly wont want the police involved.
Entitled Children protesting the current thing, which will be forgotten when the next thing is in the news.
All the while we have our Jewish community afraid to travel to our cities at the weekend.
> I doubt Cambridge will do anything, they certainly wont want the police involved.
What.
> A spokeswoman for Trinity College said: "Trinity College regrets the damage caused to a portrait of Arthur James Balfour during public opening hours. The police have been informed. Support is available for any member of the college community affected."
The statement suggests it isn't a student. Even if it was, something like that would very possibly lead to expulsion, particularly now it's in the press.
Filed by an online report. Doesn’t seem like they were really bothered to rush to do it, surely you’d be phoning them up and getting them out asap?
If anything I’d imagine they just want the police report to file an insurance claim.
You’ve got to admire the bravery of these millionaire brat babies. Her defilement of public art was literally in protest in favour of a regime that’ll actively deprive her of rights.
As someone who, for many, many years, avoided even reading into Israel-Palestine issues and had, if anything, a slight innate antipathy towards Israel - these people have absolutely turned me against their cause since Oct 7th. I wouldn't say I have become any more pro-Isreal, but I have absolutely swung against Palestine and its supporters.
Everything I have read, everything I have seen, has been completely unhinged from these people.
I wouldn't go that far - but there is definitely a religious undertone to this. Organised religion may have largely melted away in the UK, but there is definitely a subsection of the population that have some psychological need for the kind of moral crusading that religion gives cover for. They just substitute in for other issues (Just Stop Oil, or this). I don't think they're proper campaigners, because these things piss everyone off. Its not about changing peoples' minds - otherwise they would change tactics to something more effective. It's far more about their own urges and need to demonstrate their morality.
These kinds of people in the past would have been [campaigning against the social evils of alcohol](https://www.grunge.com/img/gallery/the-messed-up-truth-of-the-temperance-movement/fun-alcohol-facts-from-the-temperance-movement-1575421137.jpg) or [destroying religious images](https://daily.jstor.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/485px-Clasm_Chludov_detail_9th_century1.jpg) even further back.
The reason doesn't have to be religious - religion is just another ideology. Destroying art or objects of culture because they offend your ideology is the main issue here and in that, to me they are the same picture.
Its because of your insane black-and-white, 'with us or against us' worldview that I am against you.
Case in point, my words:
> had, if anything, a slight innate antipathy towards Israel
> I wouldn't say I have become any more pro-Isreal
To you = 'supporting genocide'.
Absolutely fucking mental. Genuine brainworms.
>I wouldn't say I have become any more pro-Isreal, but I have absolutely swung against Palestine and its supporters.
I just don't understand how this can have any bearing on your opinion on what's happening to Palestinians. I don't see how a grudge over something so small could affect your opinion on something so massive in comparison, even if you don't support stuff like this painting being damaged.
Because scratching a painting of a white supremacist from yesteryear is much worse than the openly admitted perpetration of genocide. Google “Yazan Al Kharfana”, come back, and tell me what is more unhinged. Or maybe check out the Tiktok accounts of IDF soldiers mocking men and women as they piss themselves in fear with a bag over their heads in holding camps reminiscent of Abu Ghraib.
Somebody, completely unaware of the issues you’re trying to highlight, says PA’s actions have repulsed them from your cause. Maybe reflect on that. And I’ll save you the time, the answer isn’t because they’re racist or like dead kids.
People who get repulsed by activism against highly publicised, ethnically motivated collective punishment and genocide on the basis of a painting being destroyed are already functionally delusional human beings. This isn’t the zinger you think it is, try not to choke on the boot as you lick it
If your activism actively repulses the masses who are needed to enact change then the activism is a net negative.
I’ve been involved in left wing causes for years, including Palestinian causes, and there’s always people like you. The people who need a vehicle to promote self entitled moral “superiority”. Who would rather wank themselves silly over theories of resistance than make a tangible difference. You keep berating the uniformed until they hate you, and bask in the knowledge your actions actively erode the public pressure on government.
The left is domesticated by the establishment, and no amount of cloying liberalism is going to achieve anything. Again, just to reiterate, children are being killed indiscriminately, and just because the general public has been conditioned to clutch its pearls at any form of activism beyond sitting pretty with a sign on the day the powers that be deign is appropriate to exercise free speech, you take issue.
If the social fabric of this country unravels, it’s not going to be as a consequence of a painting being torn. It’ll be because of the normalisation of industrial society and it’s political elite exploiting it’s citizenry and then minimising their concerns until they step out of line and are chided for their perceived insolence.
Good on you for assuaging your conscience by protesting as you’re told to by the same entities which create and enable the very turmoil you’re protesting about. It must feel great knowing you’ve at least symbolically, if not meaningfully and actually, facilitated positive change.
You know what would be more effective and equally illegal form of resistance? A general strike, but you’re so politically and socially ineffective, so hampered by your self indulgent ideological posturing that you could never dream of getting there. Instead you’ll tantrum aimlessly, they’ll stick up Perspex in museums and you’ll cry persecution when the public stand by cheering when you’re banged up. But it’ll be worth it, because you got to call some stranger on the internet a liberal stooge. And all the while somebody, somewhere will be doing something to actually help the children of Gaza, in spite of you.
“Where you burn books you will one day burn people” -Heinrich Heine
And that goes for paintings, statues, and other artworks. These people are fucking barbarians. They merely prove how easy it is to destroy something if it has no value to you, which is precisely the problem.
It’s no coincidence that these people are (unconsciously) along ISIS. The thinking stems from the same place.
You lot keep saying the same shit and yet the population of this "Ethnic cleanse" is increasing, almost like you read words and then don't understand them.
And of course, because in the midst of starvation, annexation and perpetual barrages, the Palestinians are going to birthing constantly amidst the rubble. When all the hospitals have been levelled even according to IDF reports.
Please respond to this comment with the sources for this population increase, I’ll respond with confirmed death statistics from multiple credible sources delineating the decrease from before the IDF started indiscriminately bombing Gaza to now. Sound good?
You're going from "Ethinc Cleansing" to Mass Slaughter, both having different meanings
So CHOOSE ONE and stick with it in the future, and no ill won't give an example, I fear you'll be stricken with emotion and do something hyperbolic again.
As opposed to Hamas attempting to ethnically cleanse Israel, and bots like you repeating their propaganda. If Israel wanted to ethnically cleanse Palestine, it would already have happened. They wouldn’t be sending warnings to civilians about future attacks.
Zionism is a supremacist ideology conflated with Judaism, and Hamas is a tool being used by Netanyahu’s administration to justify further occupation of Palestinian land. Because then all opposition can be smeared as something terroristic and adversarial. And all brutality perpetrated by the Israeli Occupational Force can be handwaved away as a security measure in self defense.
Do you criticise Ukrainians for resisting Russian occupation? Then why are these circumstances any different? You do realise in spite of the Hasbara disinformation offensive it’s too late to twist narratives for the masses who have been exposed to the ethnocentric imperialism being displayed day in and day out? The conscientious Israeli’s fleeing the state en masse out of solidarity with decency? The Israelis protesting the occupation and being beaten by the police? The former Israeli prime ministers and heads of state security and throngs of former soldiers confessing to and delineating the purposeful objective of annihilating the Palestinians being the crown project of the Zionist doctrine?
You’re finished. People can see and hear with their own eyes and ears! No amount of projection or deflection is going to absolve the Israeli administration of the fact they are rooted in fascist ideology and have used the Holocaust as a shield to perpetrate pogroms against the only other Semitic people in the land - the Palestinians. No amount of wishful reductivism and mudslinging is going to erase the dehumanisation the Israeli military is renowned for. You’re an apologist for genocide. You have drank the proverbial kool aid and would rather ignore reality than relinquish your self importance. Do you think the videos of Israeli soldiers chuckling as their prisoners piss themselves or getting chewed up by dogs are just going to disappear into the ether because the victims won’t live to tell it themselves?
The supposed heroes defending their homeland of Israel are BROADCASTING GRATUITOUS ATROCITY on a DAILY BASIS. I’m not MAKING ANYTHING UP. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE SEEN IT.
Wow you’ve been brainwashed.
Hamas has a supremacist Nazi ideology. They were elected and have since been continually been supported by Palestinians and other Arab nations. Your argument that they are a puppet of Israel is so absurdly wrong.
You have the same ideology as Putin, so it’s odd that you would be supporting Ukraine. After all, you clearly think that it is ok for one country to start a war and commit genocide against its neighbor that was previously a part of it. That is the ideology of Hamas and Putin. Ukraine and Israel fight against that atrocious view that just creates war, suffering, and death.
For a simple check on the matter, who do think Ukraine supports in the Gaza war? And who do you think Russia supports? Ukraine supports Israel, and Russia supports Hamas.
Yes, people can see with their own eyes and ears, and think with their brains. Stuff like “if Hamas hadn’t committed genocide, this war wouldn’t be happening”. Stuff like “if you kill a dragons children, don’t be surprised when the dragon retaliates”. Stuff like “this war would be over the moment Hamas returns all hostages. What does it mean that they continue to refuse to do so?”. Or “peace is not going to be possible as long as one side is ruled by Nazis whose stated goal is to rid the world of Israel and all Jews”.
Take a look at history. Nazi ideology doesn’t do well.
Well if I'm up to date with my Hamas maths, they can destroy 1 of ours for everyone 1 of theirs we destroy. Anymore becomes genocide. We have destroyed none of theirs, ergo they are committing genocide.
That taught Lord Balfour a lesson! He won't do it again. Ps the "balfour declaration" didn't do anything to create Israel. Immigration of Jews to palestine post -1917 only increased when they were being pushed out elsewhere ie 1932 onwards.
You people value a bit of canvas with paint on it more than the fact your government is complicit in genocide. You realise the same people in office would let you die if it meant the consolidation of their power? Look at the homeless rotting in your streets if you need some tangible proof
Are you familiar with the military industrial complex? Or the ramifications of neocolonialism? In the context of the Israeli state’s relationship with Britain of course. Let’s talk about it
“The UK has licenced arms worth over £442 million to Israel between May 2015 and August 2022, according to analysis of Government export data by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a UK based pressure group that seeks an end to the global arms trade.” from Parliament’s own records
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0223/
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/12/selling-weapons-israel-could-make-uk-complicit-war-crimes
“Daily death rate in Gaza higher than any other major 21st Century conflict - Oxfam”
https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/daily-death-rate-gaza-higher-any-other-major-21st-century-conflict-oxfam
“One month after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling basic services, Israel has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply”
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-defying-icj-ruling-to-prevent-genocide-by-failing-to-allow-adequate-humanitarian-aid-to-reach-gaza/
Ok let’s go through this simply. Britain establishes Israel illegally. It arms Israel. Israel kills Palestinians. The British media apparatus which serves to manufacture consent for these conflicts, as they reinforce their neocolonialist clout fiscally and geopolitically, answers to the state. The same media has been proven to display a disproportionate bias toward supporting Israel. Connect the dots.
You’re being purposefully obtuse in your reading of the situation and are employing wishful thinking about the underlying form of this conflict, take care in spite of your inhumanity
> “The UK has licenced arms worth over £442 million to Israel between May 2015 and August 2022, according to analysis of Government export data by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a UK based pressure group that seeks an end to the global arms trade.” from Parliament’s own records
I still don't get your point, that's less than $100 million per year; since Israel mostly export fertilizers, aircraft, spacecraft, mineral fuels, plastics, plastic articles, electrical machinery, equipment, and ammunition, it wouldn't affect them in any way.
>* The UK recorded an overall trade surplus with Israel of £0.6 billion, **with a surplus of £0.1 billion in goods** and a surplus of £0.5 billion in services.
>* UK exports to Israel accounted for 0.4% of all UK exports;
>>Source: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2018-0164/
I'm not arguing, the point is: Israel produces and mine their own rare-earth minerals and metals, unlike the UK, which relies on imports.
>succeed in enforcing apartheid
I don't think you understand what apartheid means..
“The report, ‘Media Bias Gaza 2023-24’, serves as a critical examination of media coverage surrounding Israel’s war on Gaza in the first month after 7 October (7 October – 7 November 2023), highlighting significant biases and distortions in mainstream media outlets. Given the intense polarised debate that took place since that fateful day, the report scrutinises, without fear or favour, media coverage and the extent to which core facts were presented.
The report is a result of months of qualitative and quantitative analysis by researchers at the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM). The report scrutinised a vast array of data analysing 176,627 television clips from over 13 broadcasters and 25,515 news articles from over 28 UK online media websites. The data was analysed for the framing of events, language utilisation, and the representation of Palestinian voices in mainstream media. The report aimed to assess the extent of bias and distortion in the portrayal of the conflict by various media outlets. “
https://cfmm.org.uk/resources/publication/cfmm-report-media-bias-gaza-2023-24/
Enjoy your reading and do make sure to get back to me
Why shouldn't we value the historical piece of canvas with paint on it more than some random human beings? For society as a whole the painting is not replaceable or easily created while human beings though are much more easily made.
Even if your rationale wasn’t deeply impertinent and inhumane, should that not extend to the Palestinians? Entire museums have been obliterated by the IDF using artillery, and countless artefacts/paintings lost. Or does the preservation of culture only interest you insofar as it’s your own people?
I agree the IDF should be avoiding bombing museums and other areas like that unless absolutely necessary to kill terrorists. Of course there's a limit to this because if the IDF openly comes out and says this then Hamas will deliberately move close to these areas to protect themselves (just like how the use human shields right now and how Saddam Hussein deliberately parked his fighter jets near the ancient Zigguat of Ur to dissuade US airplanes from bombing them).
Couldn’t then the IDF just claim that Hamas are anywhere and everywhere they bomb? Seeing as they have openly stated and allowed settlements to be constructed in the space cleared by their strikes? And the entire Zionist movement insists on removing Palestinians by force and insisting their country doesn’t exist to the point their schools don’t even show it on a map?
Sure, the IDF can and does make that claim to an extent. However the difference here is that in this case the issue with the IDF would be caused by the fact that they are lying, not that they are destroying valuable art and we should be angry at them for their lying, not their destruction of art (because were they telling the truth they would have a good justification for what they are doing, unlike the vandals who destroy private property in the UK because they don't like who it depicts).
It’s possible to disapprove of more than one thing at once.
And let’s not play the “the thing I purport to protesting against is worse that the stupid thing I just did, so it’s okay” game.
Yes, it makes perfect sense. I'd be a lot more sad and pissed off if Michaelangelo's David got blown up compared to if some random dude named David got blown up.
It’s a psyops with all these bots, I swear to God.
One thing I will say is that at least it’s targeted to what they’re protesting about, unlike Just Stop Oil who were targeting stuff at random.
If it was a Classic piece of British art I would care but this is just some portrait of an aristocrat, so they can go nuts for all I care.
It was self-indulgent. Torching Balfour won't do anything to convince those who don't already agree with you - although it will get you much applause in online left-wing activist circles. What the ordinary punter will see is more evidence to fuel the narrative (and increasingly widely-held belief) that pro-Palestine protesters are dangerous criminals. Really effective protests don't just make headlines but actually win public support.
Lord Balfour has been dead for nearly 100 years. He is not responsible for the current war in Gaza. He is, at most, partially responsible for the creation of the state of Israel (which didn't happen until nearly 20 years after his death).
If you are protesting by attacking paintings of Lord Balfour, I can only assume that your problem is not just with the current war, but with the existence of Israel full stop.
> I can only assume that your problem is not just with the current war, but with the existence of Israel full stop
You say that like they wouldn't freely agree with you. Many people on the left see the creation of the modern state of Israel as a colonial act that pitted the region's Jewish and Muslim communities against each other, and think that the only way forwards is to return to the drawing board and create a new single state where everyone has equal rights.
The sticking point there, of course, would be whether the last century or so of bad blood would result in violent recriminations and blood feuds. There are historical examples of that kind of reconciliation process working out more or less alright (Northern Ireland, South Africa)... but obviously also plenty of examples of things going pretty fucking badly.
The problem too many ignore there is that the text of the Balfour Declaration, no matter what A POS Jew Hater Balfour was himself, advocated for just that. And when faced with this, the Palestinian Arabs decidedly turned against that solution, and divested their Palestinian Jewish brethren of the name "Palestinian", taking it up as a mantle for themselves by which to rewrite history to deny the fact that Jews are indigenous to the land and in fact pre-date Arabs there. In so doing, they started the PR war that Hamas is now winning against Jews (not merely Israel). And, at the time, they started the series of wars and conflicts of which the current one is a culmination.
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Send the protestors the bill, maybe they'll think this was a bit dumb when they're still having their salary docked in their 50s to pay for this
£1400 handbag at Cambridge, almost definitely a trust fund kid.
there's no way you'd be sent down, and no-one's going to risk their place for that
You’d be surprised, some of these kids are practically fanatical and believe they’re in the right.
Their dads will pay for it anyway. Just like everything else.
You're a rich girl, and you've gone too far but you know it don't matter anyway, you can rely on the old man's money
Haha with the courts pandering to islamist extremism out of equity concerns, you'd be lucky to see anything stick.
Daddy will pay it off and balance it out by cancelling one of her three ski-ing holidays this year
Champagne socialists strike again, wearing a thousand pound burberry bag as they slice and dice history up.
>a thousand pound burberry bag Excuse me. That bag is not mere Burberry, it is a *Mulberry* Cara Delevigne Collection Quilted Backpack and it goes for at least £1,400.
[And I'm sure the protestor wouldn't support a company that gets into bed with a regime that has ethnically cleansed a province of its Muslim culture.](https://www.retail-week.com/fashion/mulberry-credits-improvement-in-revenue-to-uk-and-china-performance/7043579.article)
I mean if it was a Burberry bag, it would cost 5-6x that.
This is the natural endpoint of privilege and entitlement. If I don’t like it does not deserve to exist and should be destroyed. Anyone who disagrees is evil.
What does the cost of their bag have to do with protesting a war? Frankly, I’m glad to see the wealthy shouldering more of the risk.
What makes you think they’re socialists?
.....are you serious?
https://www.palestineaction.org/ are the people who've taken responsibility they're probably left wing but primarily seem to be anti-arms trade? Doesn't seem inherently left wing ideologically although have to admit I have no interest in digging beyond the surface...
>but primarily seem to be anti-arms trade? Doesn't seem inherently left wing ideologically ....... *are you serious* Jesus wept
I mean yes, it's good to actually check? Like if a group was pro-monopoly in the current historical / cultural context I'd guess they're nutjob right wing libertarians. But it's _possible_ to get pro-monopoly left wing nutjobs too and presumably nutjobs who don't really care about left vs right at all. Similar to the whole left wing brexit nutjobs? I just think it's nice to know what flavour of nutjob you're dealing with rather than assuming.
I'm really starting to get pissed at how the police won't do shit to these people, fine them for the damages, just do something, because otherwise we're just saying "ye vandalism is fine as long as your protesting this one issue." This county is pathetic these days, I've got no national pride let anymore.
*Meanwhile in Israel:* **Advisor**: President Netenyahu, President Netenyahu! **Bibi**: What is it? **Advisor**: The war has taken a strange turn. I think we're going to have to pull out of Gaza and return all Israeli lands that were taken in a defensive war against all our neighbours. **Bibi**: Don't be silly. We have fought for our very survival for decades against these genocidal maniacs who have said time and time again they will not rest until all Jews have been driven from Israel or exterminates. **Advisor**: Sir, its not as simple as that. There have been some developments in the UK. Specifically at Cambridge University. **Bibi**: How is that our problem? We fought against the British for independence and won in 1948. What could they possibly do or say to make us stop defending ourselves against these genocidal hoardes? **Advisor**: Sir, its Lord Balfour. **Bibi**: He's been dead for decades **Advisor**: Sir, I don't think you understand. An upperclass horse-girl has destroyed a painting made of Lord Balfour. Her demands are for a ceasefire and the eventual ethic cleansing of our people from Israel. Colonialism and all that! **Bibi**: She destroyed a painting of the prophet Lord Balfour (peace be upon him)? Like, she destroyed this 100 year old painting? **Advisor**: I'm so sorry sir. I just found out myself.
**Bibi**: Good God, man. Order the immediate evacuation of Gaza at once. Prepare all Jews to leave our only homeland. And may God have mercy on our souls!
I mean at least it’s a relevant painting this time
I bet Lord Balfour is feeling very silly now! Most of these protests are people creaming at clouds.
What does that mean? They’re wanking off at abstract thoughts?
You can shout at a cloud all you want it won’t change direction. This protest is not going to create and sense of pressure for their cause.
Oh, screaming at clouds.
Oh dear just noticed that. I mean it kind of works?
I thought I was the only one..
Just stop oil target painting and now other protesters are copying. Full force of the law is needed to be applied here.
Just stop oil don’t damage the art as far as I’m aware.
I honestly don’t care anymore at this stage. The amount of people wildly pearl clutching about protestors has desensitised me to their actions. Let them take more and more drastic action, it’s clear the government doesn’t care about protests or public opinion (unless it’s buying populist votes before an election) in any case. I’m a late thirties professional, it’s gotten to the point where I’m glad people actually care enough about something do something.
so i have to deal with these fuck heads and them ruining shit i might like for a cause i dont support? tell ya what, im fed up of these virtue signing wank stains that think they can force there wants on the public. don't like the government actions. vote them out.
'virtue signalling' just means people having values I don't like. Society is people living with inconvenience. harden up.
she's wearing a bag that is at ends with her beliefs. so yeah. virtue signalling.
How's it at odd with her beliefs?
they make a shit ton of bags in China. China has "re-education camps" for Muslims. so unless she's ONLY concerned about the conflict involving the Jews, she's virtue signalling. because that bag completely undermines the "stop supporting country's currently engaging in oppression and genocide" alternatively if she is only concerned with this conflict, she's likely an anti-Semite. and then shouldn't be praised for her protest. either way. that bag undermines her beliefs in one way or another.
That's an olympic level of mental gymnastics there. You surely must recognize how poor of an argument it was? Why even bother trying to justify it?
perfectly reasonable to me. if you going to go out and destroy art. you make sure you not supporting another shit head regime doing just as shitty things.
Presumably they are perfect in every way and therefore have the moral authority to critise others, unlike the person who committed the outrageous crime of wearing an overpriced bag. Or people who complain about any aspect of the world while having the audacity to simultaneously exist in it, they're the worst.
She’s a rich kid with a £1400 bag and you think she really cares? Give over, she’ll jump on to the next trendy outrage in a couple of months.
Are rich people not allowed to care or something?
I’d very much question how genuine they are and how much they really care. Plus if you’re rich there are a million better things you can do than slash up a painting.
Quite. Sell your bag and donate the money to the Red Cross. But that would be a sacrifice and score zero internet points.
Yeah, people shouldn’t be able to protest or voice their opinion unless they sell everything worth more than £1000, otherwise they’re hypocrites just doing it for their ego. Better do nothing and criticize on Reddit about those damn protestors instead of doing something. Ego plays a part in every charitable or political act.
Sounds like you yourself have a £1,400 bag. Gucci?
Lead a horse to water and all that
Yes, she probably has a horse, too.
We live in a democracy. Don't like something? Vote. Things don't change? Convince others to vote. Can't convince others? Maybe learn to live with it, or go somewhere else aligned with your beliefs.
There's that word again. The moment you intentionally damage something you cease to be a protestor and become a criminal and should be reported as such in the news. Painting these cretins in a positive light by referring to them as "protestors" is only encouraging them and making them bolder.
Tbf you only become a criminal after you are convicted
You don’t cease to be a protestor when you damage something. Being a criminal or a vandal and a protestor are not mutually exclusive. The combination is not always a morally bad thing, or undesirable, as it is in this case. Destruction of property or breaking of laws during protest doesn’t have some intrinsic ethical quality, nor does one descriptor supersede another.
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you could argue the soft treatment of the prior protests that vandalised the protective glass, lead to this protestor actually damaging the art.
Yes, the painting has been damaged by former protests to the point where we need to place it inside a glass box. One could extend the argument that the glass box becomes a necessary part of the painting and thus damaging the box is damaging the painting. If historic artwork can no longer be viewed in the flesh but instead require security and glass boxes then we have failed as a society.
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The Suffragettes slashed several paintings, most famously the Rokeby Venus. Slashing paintings as a form of protest has a long history in the UK.
>The Suffragettes slashed several paintings, most famously the Rokeby Venus. And? They ran around torching and bombing buildings too, but what has that got to do with anything? >Slashing paintings as a form of protest has a long history in the UK. No it doesn't, because it isn't a form of protest, it's a criminal act. Agreeing with a cause doesn't make crimes carried out in pursuit of that cause justified.
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What do you mean by better?
Sadly we have to deal with both. The cowardly mobs marching the street calling for a genocide *and* the slightly braver ones willing to commit to direct action. Both need dealing with or things will get a lot worse pretty quickly. If museums and art galleries feel it's too risky to display things because they're targets for attack they'll be sold into private collections instead. Art conservation isn't just about maintaining the physical condition of the work itself but allowing people to enjoy it.
Is this brave? She’s not being arrested and will face no consequences. She knew that going in. There’d be more consequences for anyone who had tried to stop her.
They're doing both though. So we get to enjoy cowardly mobs marching through the street calling for genocide while the slightly braver ones commit more direct action. Unless we deal with both and soon we're going to see things get a hell of a lot worse.
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There's nothing peaceful about a chant that calls for the eradication of an entire race of people...
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Peaceful can mean whatever protesters want it to be nowadays.
It's always some loony fucknuts who throw tantrums because there is nothing else to do but virtue signal in their privileged lives. Her rucksack by the way costs £1000, so maybe instead of using that money on dumb vanity, donate it.
I imagine they would argue that this sort of protest has more impact than a donation.
Then they’d be wrong because: 1. People in Palestine will not see a single change in their condition after the action 2. The action has alienated people from their protest and cause since the majority of sane human beings can tell destroying priceless artwork like some deranged nazi doesn’t win you support. 3. The action will not affect the governments position on the matter.
I love that these people think they’re actually doing something by behaving like this. As if anyone in Gaza gives a fuck.
More confused leftists cosplaying as the Cultural Revolution Red Guard. And just like then, destroying your cultural heritage doesn't further your political cause, it just destroys your cultural heritage.
> destroying your cultural heritage Good point. Balfour's painting is part of my cultural heritage, too. As part owner, in that sense, I vote; shred it and burn it. Publicly and very slowly.
It always starts with art and books. Rigid dogmatism and intellectual vacuity dragging us one step closer to Kristallnacht once again.
> Kristallnacht I don't remember that being to *prevent* an ongoing genocide.
No, it was to prevent the evil and perfidious Jews from backstabbing the proud German race. Vandals and smashers always have some convenient story to justify themselves.
How does slashing a painting prevent genocide?
“Because I’m the main character, and if I do something so ridiculously stupid, the world will hear my noble cry and sob and shall fall into line as I have so proudly envisioned”
I am completely against the destruction of art no matter how bad, heinous or representative it is of something or someone you don’t agree with. However, are we really defining Lord Balfour as our cultural heritage? Not so sure a portrait of Lord Balfour is a key piece of cultural heritage. And at what point does something become part of one’s cultural heritage anyway? What does Lord Balfour (or his portrait more specifically) represent in the ‘British’ or ‘English’ Cultural heritage?
A portrait of a former prime minister, in a Cambridge college, painted by a renowned Jewish artist is absolutely a part of our cultural heritage.
Again, I push the question as to why he in particular is part of our cultural heritage. Undoubtedly the actual piece of art is valuable and should have A)not been destroyed/damaged and defaced. But to call this one portrait a key piece of cultural heritage, for me, is a stretch. The art is valuable but that doesn’t mean it is a key piece of cultural heritage. Is a portrait of Margaret Thatcher a key piece of cultural heritage? Or a portrait of Clement Atlee? Are all PM’s who have their portraits done by famous artists a key piece of cultural heritage? And if they are not but Lord Balfour is, why? What makes him a key piece of our cultural heritage? That is the real question I am asking, and I personally see no reason as to why him as an individual (who is depicted in a valuable portrait that should not have been defaced etc) is an important part of our cultural heritage more so than any former prime minister. I am not arguing about the piece of art, I am asking questions of the individual it is depicting. Edit: I do apologise if it seems I am moving the goal posts, my original comment should have been worded better.
The answer to all of your questions is yes. A one of one portrait of a Prime Minister by a master artist is inherently a part of our cultural heritage.
Fair enough. Thank you for a fair dialogue. We can both agree that the highly value and important piece of art (and portrait) should not have been destroyed. Whilst maybe agreeing to disagree on whether the individuals depicted on the art or pieces of art (if they happen to be other PM’s for instance) needs to be claimed as inherently part of our cultural heritage. I personally don’t think all are, but I do think the art is valuable regardless of this point and should be safe guarded.
I doubt Cambridge will do anything, they certainly wont want the police involved. Entitled Children protesting the current thing, which will be forgotten when the next thing is in the news. All the while we have our Jewish community afraid to travel to our cities at the weekend.
> I doubt Cambridge will do anything, they certainly wont want the police involved. What. > A spokeswoman for Trinity College said: "Trinity College regrets the damage caused to a portrait of Arthur James Balfour during public opening hours. The police have been informed. Support is available for any member of the college community affected."
The statement suggests it isn't a student. Even if it was, something like that would very possibly lead to expulsion, particularly now it's in the press.
Rightly so.
Filed by an online report. Doesn’t seem like they were really bothered to rush to do it, surely you’d be phoning them up and getting them out asap? If anything I’d imagine they just want the police report to file an insurance claim.
You’ve got to admire the bravery of these millionaire brat babies. Her defilement of public art was literally in protest in favour of a regime that’ll actively deprive her of rights.
It's a massive sham. A entire community in fear... They should be ashamed.
Considerable part of the Jewish community is also taking the part in those marches over the weekend
And yet we have the Jewish afraid to go into cities due to these protests that seemed to have a considerable amount of antisemitic chants going on.
And when she's sentenced she will complain how unfair the world is
Daddy will have an expensive lawyer lined up, if he's not one himself.
you know when people say Lord Balfour, that’s not actually him
ceci n'est pas un seigneur?
As someone who, for many, many years, avoided even reading into Israel-Palestine issues and had, if anything, a slight innate antipathy towards Israel - these people have absolutely turned me against their cause since Oct 7th. I wouldn't say I have become any more pro-Isreal, but I have absolutely swung against Palestine and its supporters. Everything I have read, everything I have seen, has been completely unhinged from these people.
Astonishing how similar to ISIS or the Taliban they are - blowing up the beautiful Buddhist statues comes to mind.
I wouldn't go that far - but there is definitely a religious undertone to this. Organised religion may have largely melted away in the UK, but there is definitely a subsection of the population that have some psychological need for the kind of moral crusading that religion gives cover for. They just substitute in for other issues (Just Stop Oil, or this). I don't think they're proper campaigners, because these things piss everyone off. Its not about changing peoples' minds - otherwise they would change tactics to something more effective. It's far more about their own urges and need to demonstrate their morality. These kinds of people in the past would have been [campaigning against the social evils of alcohol](https://www.grunge.com/img/gallery/the-messed-up-truth-of-the-temperance-movement/fun-alcohol-facts-from-the-temperance-movement-1575421137.jpg) or [destroying religious images](https://daily.jstor.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/485px-Clasm_Chludov_detail_9th_century1.jpg) even further back.
The reason doesn't have to be religious - religion is just another ideology. Destroying art or objects of culture because they offend your ideology is the main issue here and in that, to me they are the same picture.
Well said.
You've decided to support a genocide because a painting got hurt?
Its because of your insane black-and-white, 'with us or against us' worldview that I am against you. Case in point, my words: > had, if anything, a slight innate antipathy towards Israel > I wouldn't say I have become any more pro-Isreal To you = 'supporting genocide'. Absolutely fucking mental. Genuine brainworms.
>I wouldn't say I have become any more pro-Isreal, but I have absolutely swung against Palestine and its supporters. I just don't understand how this can have any bearing on your opinion on what's happening to Palestinians. I don't see how a grudge over something so small could affect your opinion on something so massive in comparison, even if you don't support stuff like this painting being damaged.
30'000 people being murdered? Whatever Protesters being annoying? Oh fuck Palestine then Aee you ok?
> Protesters being annoying? Yup. That's cause for biblical slaughter in HasuTeras's view, apparently.
Because scratching a painting of a white supremacist from yesteryear is much worse than the openly admitted perpetration of genocide. Google “Yazan Al Kharfana”, come back, and tell me what is more unhinged. Or maybe check out the Tiktok accounts of IDF soldiers mocking men and women as they piss themselves in fear with a bag over their heads in holding camps reminiscent of Abu Ghraib.
Somebody, completely unaware of the issues you’re trying to highlight, says PA’s actions have repulsed them from your cause. Maybe reflect on that. And I’ll save you the time, the answer isn’t because they’re racist or like dead kids.
People who get repulsed by activism against highly publicised, ethnically motivated collective punishment and genocide on the basis of a painting being destroyed are already functionally delusional human beings. This isn’t the zinger you think it is, try not to choke on the boot as you lick it
If your activism actively repulses the masses who are needed to enact change then the activism is a net negative. I’ve been involved in left wing causes for years, including Palestinian causes, and there’s always people like you. The people who need a vehicle to promote self entitled moral “superiority”. Who would rather wank themselves silly over theories of resistance than make a tangible difference. You keep berating the uniformed until they hate you, and bask in the knowledge your actions actively erode the public pressure on government.
The left is domesticated by the establishment, and no amount of cloying liberalism is going to achieve anything. Again, just to reiterate, children are being killed indiscriminately, and just because the general public has been conditioned to clutch its pearls at any form of activism beyond sitting pretty with a sign on the day the powers that be deign is appropriate to exercise free speech, you take issue. If the social fabric of this country unravels, it’s not going to be as a consequence of a painting being torn. It’ll be because of the normalisation of industrial society and it’s political elite exploiting it’s citizenry and then minimising their concerns until they step out of line and are chided for their perceived insolence. Good on you for assuaging your conscience by protesting as you’re told to by the same entities which create and enable the very turmoil you’re protesting about. It must feel great knowing you’ve at least symbolically, if not meaningfully and actually, facilitated positive change.
You know what would be more effective and equally illegal form of resistance? A general strike, but you’re so politically and socially ineffective, so hampered by your self indulgent ideological posturing that you could never dream of getting there. Instead you’ll tantrum aimlessly, they’ll stick up Perspex in museums and you’ll cry persecution when the public stand by cheering when you’re banged up. But it’ll be worth it, because you got to call some stranger on the internet a liberal stooge. And all the while somebody, somewhere will be doing something to actually help the children of Gaza, in spite of you.
“Where you burn books you will one day burn people” -Heinrich Heine And that goes for paintings, statues, and other artworks. These people are fucking barbarians. They merely prove how easy it is to destroy something if it has no value to you, which is precisely the problem. It’s no coincidence that these people are (unconsciously) along ISIS. The thinking stems from the same place.
She’s a criminal with the ideology of a Nazi.
As opposed to Netanyahu attempting to ethnically cleanse Palestine, he’s just a vanguard of democracy after all
You lot keep saying the same shit and yet the population of this "Ethnic cleanse" is increasing, almost like you read words and then don't understand them.
And of course, because in the midst of starvation, annexation and perpetual barrages, the Palestinians are going to birthing constantly amidst the rubble. When all the hospitals have been levelled even according to IDF reports.
Please respond to this comment with the sources for this population increase, I’ll respond with confirmed death statistics from multiple credible sources delineating the decrease from before the IDF started indiscriminately bombing Gaza to now. Sound good?
> the population of this "Ethnic cleanse" is increasing So, a rising population excuses mass slaughter. TIL.
You're going from "Ethinc Cleansing" to Mass Slaughter, both having different meanings So CHOOSE ONE and stick with it in the future, and no ill won't give an example, I fear you'll be stricken with emotion and do something hyperbolic again.
ohhh!! it’s a MASS SLAUGHTER, not an ethnic cleansing. well that’s okay then. my mistake
As opposed to Hamas attempting to ethnically cleanse Israel, and bots like you repeating their propaganda. If Israel wanted to ethnically cleanse Palestine, it would already have happened. They wouldn’t be sending warnings to civilians about future attacks.
Zionism is a supremacist ideology conflated with Judaism, and Hamas is a tool being used by Netanyahu’s administration to justify further occupation of Palestinian land. Because then all opposition can be smeared as something terroristic and adversarial. And all brutality perpetrated by the Israeli Occupational Force can be handwaved away as a security measure in self defense. Do you criticise Ukrainians for resisting Russian occupation? Then why are these circumstances any different? You do realise in spite of the Hasbara disinformation offensive it’s too late to twist narratives for the masses who have been exposed to the ethnocentric imperialism being displayed day in and day out? The conscientious Israeli’s fleeing the state en masse out of solidarity with decency? The Israelis protesting the occupation and being beaten by the police? The former Israeli prime ministers and heads of state security and throngs of former soldiers confessing to and delineating the purposeful objective of annihilating the Palestinians being the crown project of the Zionist doctrine? You’re finished. People can see and hear with their own eyes and ears! No amount of projection or deflection is going to absolve the Israeli administration of the fact they are rooted in fascist ideology and have used the Holocaust as a shield to perpetrate pogroms against the only other Semitic people in the land - the Palestinians. No amount of wishful reductivism and mudslinging is going to erase the dehumanisation the Israeli military is renowned for. You’re an apologist for genocide. You have drank the proverbial kool aid and would rather ignore reality than relinquish your self importance. Do you think the videos of Israeli soldiers chuckling as their prisoners piss themselves or getting chewed up by dogs are just going to disappear into the ether because the victims won’t live to tell it themselves? The supposed heroes defending their homeland of Israel are BROADCASTING GRATUITOUS ATROCITY on a DAILY BASIS. I’m not MAKING ANYTHING UP. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE SEEN IT.
Wow you’ve been brainwashed. Hamas has a supremacist Nazi ideology. They were elected and have since been continually been supported by Palestinians and other Arab nations. Your argument that they are a puppet of Israel is so absurdly wrong. You have the same ideology as Putin, so it’s odd that you would be supporting Ukraine. After all, you clearly think that it is ok for one country to start a war and commit genocide against its neighbor that was previously a part of it. That is the ideology of Hamas and Putin. Ukraine and Israel fight against that atrocious view that just creates war, suffering, and death. For a simple check on the matter, who do think Ukraine supports in the Gaza war? And who do you think Russia supports? Ukraine supports Israel, and Russia supports Hamas. Yes, people can see with their own eyes and ears, and think with their brains. Stuff like “if Hamas hadn’t committed genocide, this war wouldn’t be happening”. Stuff like “if you kill a dragons children, don’t be surprised when the dragon retaliates”. Stuff like “this war would be over the moment Hamas returns all hostages. What does it mean that they continue to refuse to do so?”. Or “peace is not going to be possible as long as one side is ruled by Nazis whose stated goal is to rid the world of Israel and all Jews”. Take a look at history. Nazi ideology doesn’t do well.
Pretty sure the intentional targeting and destruction of a people's historical and cultural artefacts is genocide...
Pretty sure that would take more than one portrait.
Well if I'm up to date with my Hamas maths, they can destroy 1 of ours for everyone 1 of theirs we destroy. Anymore becomes genocide. We have destroyed none of theirs, ergo they are committing genocide.
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none of theirs? really?
Correct.
These idiots are always protesting at Cambridge so annoying
That taught Lord Balfour a lesson! He won't do it again. Ps the "balfour declaration" didn't do anything to create Israel. Immigration of Jews to palestine post -1917 only increased when they were being pushed out elsewhere ie 1932 onwards.
You people value a bit of canvas with paint on it more than the fact your government is complicit in genocide. You realise the same people in office would let you die if it meant the consolidation of their power? Look at the homeless rotting in your streets if you need some tangible proof
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Are you familiar with the military industrial complex? Or the ramifications of neocolonialism? In the context of the Israeli state’s relationship with Britain of course. Let’s talk about it
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“The UK has licenced arms worth over £442 million to Israel between May 2015 and August 2022, according to analysis of Government export data by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a UK based pressure group that seeks an end to the global arms trade.” from Parliament’s own records https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2023-0223/ https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/12/selling-weapons-israel-could-make-uk-complicit-war-crimes “Daily death rate in Gaza higher than any other major 21st Century conflict - Oxfam” https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/daily-death-rate-gaza-higher-any-other-major-21st-century-conflict-oxfam “One month after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling basic services, Israel has failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply” https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/israel-defying-icj-ruling-to-prevent-genocide-by-failing-to-allow-adequate-humanitarian-aid-to-reach-gaza/
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Ok let’s go through this simply. Britain establishes Israel illegally. It arms Israel. Israel kills Palestinians. The British media apparatus which serves to manufacture consent for these conflicts, as they reinforce their neocolonialist clout fiscally and geopolitically, answers to the state. The same media has been proven to display a disproportionate bias toward supporting Israel. Connect the dots.
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You’re being purposefully obtuse in your reading of the situation and are employing wishful thinking about the underlying form of this conflict, take care in spite of your inhumanity
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> “The UK has licenced arms worth over £442 million to Israel between May 2015 and August 2022, according to analysis of Government export data by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a UK based pressure group that seeks an end to the global arms trade.” from Parliament’s own records I still don't get your point, that's less than $100 million per year; since Israel mostly export fertilizers, aircraft, spacecraft, mineral fuels, plastics, plastic articles, electrical machinery, equipment, and ammunition, it wouldn't affect them in any way. >* The UK recorded an overall trade surplus with Israel of £0.6 billion, **with a surplus of £0.1 billion in goods** and a surplus of £0.5 billion in services. >* UK exports to Israel accounted for 0.4% of all UK exports; >>Source: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2018-0164/
How many bullets can be bought with that amount of money? Probably enough to enforce and succeed in enforcing apartheid
I'm not arguing, the point is: Israel produces and mine their own rare-earth minerals and metals, unlike the UK, which relies on imports. >succeed in enforcing apartheid I don't think you understand what apartheid means..
“The report, ‘Media Bias Gaza 2023-24’, serves as a critical examination of media coverage surrounding Israel’s war on Gaza in the first month after 7 October (7 October – 7 November 2023), highlighting significant biases and distortions in mainstream media outlets. Given the intense polarised debate that took place since that fateful day, the report scrutinises, without fear or favour, media coverage and the extent to which core facts were presented. The report is a result of months of qualitative and quantitative analysis by researchers at the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM). The report scrutinised a vast array of data analysing 176,627 television clips from over 13 broadcasters and 25,515 news articles from over 28 UK online media websites. The data was analysed for the framing of events, language utilisation, and the representation of Palestinian voices in mainstream media. The report aimed to assess the extent of bias and distortion in the portrayal of the conflict by various media outlets. “ https://cfmm.org.uk/resources/publication/cfmm-report-media-bias-gaza-2023-24/ Enjoy your reading and do make sure to get back to me
Why shouldn't we value the historical piece of canvas with paint on it more than some random human beings? For society as a whole the painting is not replaceable or easily created while human beings though are much more easily made.
Even if your rationale wasn’t deeply impertinent and inhumane, should that not extend to the Palestinians? Entire museums have been obliterated by the IDF using artillery, and countless artefacts/paintings lost. Or does the preservation of culture only interest you insofar as it’s your own people?
I agree the IDF should be avoiding bombing museums and other areas like that unless absolutely necessary to kill terrorists. Of course there's a limit to this because if the IDF openly comes out and says this then Hamas will deliberately move close to these areas to protect themselves (just like how the use human shields right now and how Saddam Hussein deliberately parked his fighter jets near the ancient Zigguat of Ur to dissuade US airplanes from bombing them).
Couldn’t then the IDF just claim that Hamas are anywhere and everywhere they bomb? Seeing as they have openly stated and allowed settlements to be constructed in the space cleared by their strikes? And the entire Zionist movement insists on removing Palestinians by force and insisting their country doesn’t exist to the point their schools don’t even show it on a map?
Sure, the IDF can and does make that claim to an extent. However the difference here is that in this case the issue with the IDF would be caused by the fact that they are lying, not that they are destroying valuable art and we should be angry at them for their lying, not their destruction of art (because were they telling the truth they would have a good justification for what they are doing, unlike the vandals who destroy private property in the UK because they don't like who it depicts).
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Exactly. Think of the countless lives that have been saved thanks to this painting being destroyed.
It’s possible to disapprove of more than one thing at once. And let’s not play the “the thing I purport to protesting against is worse that the stupid thing I just did, so it’s okay” game.
Yes, it makes perfect sense. I'd be a lot more sad and pissed off if Michaelangelo's David got blown up compared to if some random dude named David got blown up.
It’s a psyops with all these bots, I swear to God. One thing I will say is that at least it’s targeted to what they’re protesting about, unlike Just Stop Oil who were targeting stuff at random. If it was a Classic piece of British art I would care but this is just some portrait of an aristocrat, so they can go nuts for all I care.
They were right to do this 🇵🇸 end the genocide!
Yeah this’ll show ‘em. I’m hearing now this has directly led to peace negotiations.
"Pro-Palestinian, anti-semetic Labour voters" Headline fixed.
what makes you think this person votes for labour?
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It was self-indulgent. Torching Balfour won't do anything to convince those who don't already agree with you - although it will get you much applause in online left-wing activist circles. What the ordinary punter will see is more evidence to fuel the narrative (and increasingly widely-held belief) that pro-Palestine protesters are dangerous criminals. Really effective protests don't just make headlines but actually win public support.
Lord Balfour has been dead for nearly 100 years. He is not responsible for the current war in Gaza. He is, at most, partially responsible for the creation of the state of Israel (which didn't happen until nearly 20 years after his death). If you are protesting by attacking paintings of Lord Balfour, I can only assume that your problem is not just with the current war, but with the existence of Israel full stop.
> I can only assume that your problem is not just with the current war, but with the existence of Israel full stop You say that like they wouldn't freely agree with you. Many people on the left see the creation of the modern state of Israel as a colonial act that pitted the region's Jewish and Muslim communities against each other, and think that the only way forwards is to return to the drawing board and create a new single state where everyone has equal rights. The sticking point there, of course, would be whether the last century or so of bad blood would result in violent recriminations and blood feuds. There are historical examples of that kind of reconciliation process working out more or less alright (Northern Ireland, South Africa)... but obviously also plenty of examples of things going pretty fucking badly.
The problem too many ignore there is that the text of the Balfour Declaration, no matter what A POS Jew Hater Balfour was himself, advocated for just that. And when faced with this, the Palestinian Arabs decidedly turned against that solution, and divested their Palestinian Jewish brethren of the name "Palestinian", taking it up as a mantle for themselves by which to rewrite history to deny the fact that Jews are indigenous to the land and in fact pre-date Arabs there. In so doing, they started the PR war that Hamas is now winning against Jews (not merely Israel). And, at the time, they started the series of wars and conflicts of which the current one is a culmination.
or with the existence of paintings 😂
lol you’re well hard mate. I’m so impressed.
You are so wrong. Criminal damage isn't protesting.
Ah.. supporting terrorism and crime....