UK: Palestine Action steals two busts, mistakenly beheads one not of Israel’s first president; decapitates the other

Image: Jihad Watch

Pro-Palestinian activists, who claimed to have "beheaded" a bust of Israel's first president, mistakenly stole a statue of a CBE-winning professor in the process.

Members of Palestine Action were filmed on Saturday smashing through a glass cabinet with hammers and seizing two statues. They asserted both depicted Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first president, but it has since emerged that one statue was actually of Harold Dixon, a former chemistry professor who championed women’s education.

The group later posted an image of one headless statue, declaring, “The first bust of Weizmann is dead.”

The University of Manchester confirmed they believe the decapitated bust is indeed of Weizmann, but the second statue depicts Dixon, who contributed to mine safety and served as Deputy Inspector of High Explosives during World War I. Dixon was also an amateur footballer and an advocate for women in physics.

Living his entire life in Fallowfield, far from Israel, Dixon’s only connection to the conflict appears to be accidental. It remains unclear which statue Palestine Action actually "beheaded."

On Tuesday, November 5, the group shared an image of the headless bust on X, stating, “First bust of Weizmann is dead. Soon, his Zionist project will be too!” In a prior post, both busts were draped in keffiyehs, with the caption: “Weizmann is now under Palestine Action’s control.”

Video footage of the theft was posted online, and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have launched an investigation. No arrests have been made.

Politician and life peer John Woodcock, Lord Walney, criticized the act, describing it as potentially inciting violence. “This latest provocation—‘beheading’ the statue of President Weizmann while memories of the October 7 terrorist attacks are fresh and hostages remain captive—may be seen as incitement. It is clearly intended to intimidate British Jews,” he said.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)