Early on Friday, activists graffitied and smashed windows of Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. The U.K.-based group Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the vandalism, and wrote on social media, “Oxford university targeted again over ties to genocide, including investments in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer.” The group further noted that former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is affiliated with the Blavatnik School, and “under his direction, Britain participated in the genocide of Palestinians.” The university-affiliated group Oxford Action for Palestine, which launched two encampments on campus last year, stated on social media that it had no affiliation with the vandalism, but added that it “stands in solidarity” with Palestine Action. A police investigation is ongoing; as of this morning, no arrests have been made.

The group Palestine Action says that “we create the change using our own power” by “targeting the source of the problem and intervening ourselves,” further stating that its approach “bypasses our complicit government and forces the necessary change ourselves.” The group regularly vandalizes property, and it has held training sessions that instructed activists to “disrupt, damage and destroy.” I suppose it isn’t surprising that the people who lack convincing arguments must commit violent acts to attract attention. But perhaps it is appropriate, as others have already argued, for the United Kingdom to designate Palestine Action a terrorist group, since terrorism in the United Kingdom includes “serious damage to property” that is “designed to influence the government, or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public” for “the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.”