A pro-Palestinian UK protest group said one of its activists had “ruined” a portrait on display of Arthur Balfour, the British politician whose declaration helped lead to Israel’s creation, AFP reports.

Police confirmed officers had received an online report of criminal damage to a painting at the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College, in eastern England.

Palestine Action, which describes itself as a direct-action network of groups and individuals, said it was responsible for damaging the 1914 painting of the statesman.

It posted video footage online of the activist spraying the artwork with red paint from a cannister and then slashing the surface of the framed painting multiple times.

The group said the targeted artwork was a portrait of Balfour — the UK’s foreign secretary in the early 20th century — by Hungarian-born artist Philip de Laszlo.

“Palestine Action spray and slash a historic painting of Lord Balfour in Trinity College, University of Cambridge,” it wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the 11-second video of the vandalism.