UK anti-Israel activists behead stolen bust of Israel’s first president Weizmann

Days after Palestine Action published footage of activists stealing two busts of Israel’s first president Chaim Weizmann from the University of Manchester, the British anti-Israel group posts images on social media showing that they have decapitated one of the statues.

“First bust of Weizmann is dead. Soon, his zionist project will be too,” the post says.

On Saturday, Palestine Action said that activists had taken the sculptures of the late Israeli leader from the university in northern England because he had “secured” the 1917 Balfour Declaration, “which began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land away.”

UK politician John Woodcock, known as Lord Walney, was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying that the act was “designed to terrorize British Jews” and could be seen as incitement to violence.

Weizmann, who worked as a biochemistry professor at the University of Manchester, was a leading statesman of the Zionist movement in the early 1900s. He spearheaded the international diplomatic efforts that led to international recognition of the budding Jewish state and is considered one of Israel’s founding fathers.

First bust of Weizmann is dead. Soon, his zionist project will be too! pic.twitter.com/CZcTX1MIu5

— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) November 5, 2024