University boss speaks out after Palestine Action protesters steal statues of Israeli president

The President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Manchester has issued a new statement calling for 'tolerance' after Palestine Action protesters smashed into a cabinet and stole statues of the first President of Israel.

Two hooded protesters smashed into a cabinet in the university's Chemistry Building on the Oxford Road campus on Friday night (November 1) and stole sculptures of Chaim Weizmann. Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the incident, sharing a clip of the incident on X.

Mr Weizmann taught at the university in the early 1900s after moving to England from Belarus and became president of Israel in 1948, shortly after the country was established. In a statement, Palestine Action said: "Today, Palestine Action have marked 107 years since the Balfour Declaration, by taking two sculptures of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, from its display case at University of Manchester.

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"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 group claimed.

Yesterday, Andy Burnham described the theft as an 'appalling act of vandalism' as he called on Greater Manchester Police to carry out the 'fullest possible investigation' into last night's theft. "Greater Manchester is proudly a city-region that supports free speech and people's right to protest - but never when it crosses the line into intimidation, vandalism and criminality", the Greater Manchester mayor said.

Today Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor at the university, issued a new statement calling for 'tolerance' after the 'act of vandalism'. Mr