University of Manchester navigates rising campus tensions after busts of Israeli president stolen

Greater Manchester Police are investigating after anti-Israel protestors stole the busts of a former Israeli President from Manchester University on Friday 2 November.

The Palestine Action Group shared a video of two masked individuals ‘abducting’ two busts of Chaim Weizmann, a former president of Israel who also taught chemistry at the university in the early 1900s.

His sculptures were stolen from a glass display cabinet in the University’s chemistry building.

After posting the video, the Group stated: “Weizmann secured the Balfour Declaration, a British pledge written 107 years ago, which began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land away.”

The Balfour Declaration was named after the former British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour. Balfour issued the statement to Lord Walter Rothschild, a prominent leader of the British Jewish community, on 2 November 1917.

The Palestine Action Group stated that Weizmann’s busts were removed because he “secured the Balfour Declaration”.

The declaration stated that Britain favoured “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” This consequently attracted Jewish migration to Palestine, which commenced tensions with the Arab residents. The land was therefore promised to two separate communities, making them both fear displacement and eradication. The Palestine Action Group stated that Weizmann’s busts were therefore removed because he “secured the Balfour Declaration”.

The Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham posted a statement on X, saying: “I will ask Greater Manchester Police to ensure that there is the fullest possible investigation into this appalling act of vandalism and that those responsible are held to account.” He also reassured the University of Manchester community, “particularly those from the Jewish community, of their safety on campus.”

Duncan Ivison, the vice-chancellor of the university, also commented: “This was an act of vandalism and makes no contribution whatsoever to a better understanding of the current conflict in the Middle East”.