The University of Manchester has appealed for tolerance after busts of Israel’s first president were stolen from one of its buildings.

Greater Manchester Police received reports of a suspected burglary on Oxford Road shortly before midnight on Friday.

This happened as Palestine Action shared a video of two people smashing a shop window and “kidnapping” two sculptures from the university’s chemistry building.

They belonged to Chaim Weizmann, a Zionist leader and the first president of Israel, who worked as a reader in chemistry at the university.

The hooded figures appear to smash the transparent casing with hammers before bagging the busts in the footage posted on X, formerly Twitter.

University of Manchester president and vice-chancellor Duncan Ivison said: “This was an act of vandalism and makes no contribution to a better understanding of the current conflict in the Middle East.

“For over a year, we have seen peaceful protests on campus and strong exchanges.

“We welcome this as part of our fundamental role as a university – a place dedicated to the discussion of often difficult ideas and beliefs.”

Mr Ivison said failed attempts were made to disrupt a debate on the Middle East conflict at Whitworth Hall last week, which was hosted by the university.

“None of these discussions are easy. They can cause discomfort and pain to many in our community,” he said.

“However, it is crucial in a free society that they occur, within the law, and always with the aim of seeking mutual understanding, and not defamation or hatred.”

The suspected burglary occurred the night before the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which declared British support for the establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine.

The Zionist politician Mr. Weizmann was involved in the negotiations that led to the declaration of November 2, 1917.

Palestine Action posted the video and said: “Weizmann secured the Balfour Declaration, a British commitment written 107 years ago that began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land.”

It preceded a series of Balfour Day protests that were claimed by Palestine Action.

Police have launched a hate crime investigation after paint was thrown at a business on Hampstead High Street in north London.

The group said it targeted the premises of the UK Israel Communications and Research Center (Bicom) and posted a photo that appeared to show red paint covering a property on the same road.

In another post, Palestine Action shared photos of paint-splattered windows it said were inside the Jewish National Fund (JNF) headquarters.

JNF UK says it is “the oldest Israeli charity in the UK” and a long-standing supporter of “Zionist pioneers”.

The Palestine Action Group describes itself as a “direct action network dismantling British complicity with Israeli apartheid”.

Protesters also marched through central London on Saturday, from Whitehall to Nine Elms Lane.

The Metropolitan Police arrested a man and a woman on suspicion of carrying a placard expressing support for an organization banned under the Terrorism Act.

The death toll from more than a year of Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has topped 43,000, Palestinian officials reported this week, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health announced that more than 2,800 people had been killed and 13,000 injured as of October 8, 2023.