Anti-Israel protesters, in a nod to the controversial art-blitz tactics of climate change activists, targeted a 1901 painting by Picasso entitled “Motherhood” at London on Wednesday to call for an arms embargo on Israel.  

The two anti-Israel activists shouted “Free, free Palestine” as they plastered a photograph of a bloodied mother and child in Gaza over the Spanish artist’s painting. The duo managed to douse the museum floor in red paint before they were escorted out of the National Gallery by security and arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. 

A video of the ordeal was posted on the social media page of the organization behind the attack, Youth Demand. Audible gasps can be heard as one of the activists, who has since been identified as 21-year-old student, Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, poured paint on the ground below the artwork. While donning a shirt that read “Stop Arming Israel,” she proceeded to shout: “The UK is complicit in genocide.” 

Ms. Rosenfeld’s partner-in-crime was 23-year-old National Health Service employee, Jai Halai. According to a photo posted on Youth Demand’s Instagram, the two offenders are planning to host a talk on Sunday the 13th to address “why they took action.” 

The National Gallery has since released a statement announcing that “there has been no damage to any paintings.” The Picasso masterpiece is covered with protective glass. 

In a caption for the video they shared of the ordeal, Youth Demand called for activists to join in on their controversial protests. “Young people will be disrupting in their cities from Nov 11. Be there,” they wrote on X. 

According to the group’s website, their demands include an “immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel” as well as “an end to all new oil and gas licenses in the UK.” Until those requests are granted, the organization vows to “be in nonviolent resistance against this rigged political system and the people with blood on their hands.” 

The latest art blitz mirrors the method taken up in recent years by climate activists. Just a few weeks ago, protesters from a climate reform group, Just Stop Oil, desecrated two Van Gogh paintings that were on display at the same museum at London. The three individuals threw cans of Heinz Soup on Sunflowers 1889 and Sunflowers 1888. 

That incident came just hours after fellow climate action activists were slapped with lengthy prison sentences for staging a similar attack on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery back in 2022. Just Stop Oil claimed that the second soup blitz was meant to serve as “a sign of defiance after the original soup throwers, Plummer and Holland were imprisoned for up to two years at Southwark Crown Court today.”

The original offenders, Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were found guilty of criminal damages and sentenced to two years and 20 months in prison. According to the museum, the antique frames suffered damages while the paintings were unharmed. 

As climate change related acts of vandalism have gained momentum, museums and galleries have been forced to take up additional security precautions to deter future attackers. 

The tactic surfaced in May 2022 when a man smeared cake on Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, while on display at the Louvre at Paris, while shouting “think of the Earth.” Such attacks have since popped up at Stonehenge, Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum at Glasgow, London’s Royal Academy, Courtauld Gallery, and others. 

The form of protest has sparked heated debate within the art world. Some have expressed approval of the movement’s provocative tactics. Others claim that the vandalism only alienates the public and is thus an ineffective means of inspiring change.