‘Zionist war criminal’: Anti-Israel activist vandalizes Churchill statue in London

Suspected perpetrator’s activist group says he came from Netherlands to support activists who broke into Elbit factory; graffiti includes inverted triangles used by Hamas

A statue of Winston Churchill in central London was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti, including Hamas symbols, overnight between Thursday and Friday. Police have arrested one suspect, a 38-year-old man, on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal assault.

Though police did not name the suspect, an activist group called “Free the Filton 24 NL,” which claimed credit for the vandalism, identified him as a member named Olax Outis.

The graffiti included inverted triangles – a symbol used in Hamas propaganda to indicate an Israeli target – as well as the phrases “Globalize the intifada” and “Zionist war criminal.”

Also written on the statue were “Free Palestine,” “Stop the genocide,” and “Never again is now.” The latter is an appropriation of a slogan associated with Holocaust remembrance.

The group that claimed credit for the vandalism describes itself as “friends and family” of the so-called Filton 24, members of the Palestine Action group who were arrested for breaking into an Israeli defense firm’s factory and destroying military equipment, causing about 1 million pounds ($1.4 million) of damage, according to prosecutors.

In a statement shared by the group, Outis said that he had “come to the United Kingdom to deface a statue of one of history’s most well-known war criminals, Winston Churchill.”

Churchill, the former prime minister known for leading the UK during its defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, was an outspoken supporter of the Zionist movement prior to Israel’s establishment in 1948.

“This well-known zionist leader is still one of the best examples to explain how zionism is rooted in antisemitism,” Outis asserted, without elaborating. He also wrote that “Churchill was a racist, a sexist, a bigot in every way,” and complained that history books “seldomly mention him as the Colonial Secretary in charge of implementing the Balfour Declaration,” in which the UK endorsed the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.

Outis said he wanted to “draw attention to the horrible human rights violations happening in a country that’s run by colonisers who refuse to listen to their people, who waste tax payers’ money to repress the population, who, according to the United Nations, are in violation of the Genocide convention.”

He added, “The current British government should be dragged before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.”

In his statement, Outis urged others to follow in his footsteps, and made two explicit references to sledgehammers, in what may have been a nod to the Elbit break-in, when one of the activists struck a police officer with a sledgehammer, in an incident captured on camera.

Six activists were acquitted of aggravated burglary during the raid, but prosecutors have said they would seek a retrial.