Who was Lord Balfour? Declaration explained as Pro-Palestine protestors damage former foreign secretary's portrait over Jewish homeland support

Members of the pro-Palestine activist group, Palestine Action slashed and spray-painted a portrait of Lord Balfour in Trinity College, Cambridge on Friday, March 8, 2024. According to the BBC, police have launched an investigation after they received an "online report of criminal damage" to the portrait of the late British politician.

The organization, Palestine Action, reportedly aims to “take direct action against Israel’s arms trade in Britain.” The video of an activist spraying red paint on Lord Balfour's portrait before making slashes across it with a sharp object was also shared on X on Friday.

Lord Balfour was a former British Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary of the country. He also wrote the Balfour Declaration, which led to the formation of Israel three decades later.

In a news article on their website, Palestine Action claimed that the declaration initiated "ethnic cleansing of Palestine, fulfilling the Zionist aim to build their ‘home’ over the top of what were Palestinian communities, towns, villages, farms, and ancestral land.”

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Lord Balfour served as the Prime Minister of the UK between 1902-1905

Lord Arthur James Balfour, born on July 25, 1848, in Wittingehame, Scotland, was the first earl of Balfour. He was the eldest son of James Maitland Balfour, a wealthy Scottish businessman, and the nephew to Robert Cecil, the third marquess of Salisbury. Lord Arthur James Balfour was raised in a highly intellectual and aristocratic environment.

He studied at Eton, after which he attended Trinity College at Cambridge. Following his graduation, he joined the Parliament as a Conservative member for Hertford. Balfour had a keen interest in the scientific and philosophical problems of life. He also published a book surrounding these ideas in 1879 – A Defence of Philosophic Doubt.

When Balfour’s uncle Robert Cecil formed his first government in 1885, he was appointed the president of the Local Government Board. In the following years, Lord Balfour received a seat in the cabinet, became the secretary for Scotland, and then the chief secretary for Ireland.

Towards the end of Salisbury’s government, as his uncle’s health was on the decline, Balfour took up more roles and responsibilities. Following Salisbury’s retirement, Lord Balfour was appointed as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1902.

During his time as a Prime Minister, Lord Arthur James Balfour brought forth many acts and policies to improve the lives of his countrymen. These included the Education Act (1902), the Unemployed Workmen Act (1905), and the completion of the Anglo-French Agreement (1904), which established the supremacy of Great Britain in Egypt.

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The Palestine Action blamed Lord Balfour for promising the land away “which the British never had the right to do”

The Balfour Declaration stands as Lord Balfour’s most significant achievement. The declaration was a public letter he wrote to Baron Rothschild, the head of a Jewish banking family, in 1917. In it, Balfour pledged the support of the British government for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” It is believed that the Balfour Declaration helped pave the way for the founding of Israel as a country thirty years later.

In the X post that shared the footage of Lord Balfour’s portrait being damaged, Palestine Action claimed that the Balfour Declaration

“began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by promising the land away – which the British never had the right to do.”

The X post has amassed over 11 million views, 17K reposts, and over 5K comments. Many netizens wrote against it in the comments section, with some calling it “vandalism”.

According to Sky News, a spokesperson from the Cambridge Police said that they received an online report of criminal damage to the painting. Following that, an investigation was launched by the Cambridge Police, but no arrests were made at the time of writing this article.