Three individuals have been charged with 25 counts, together with making a terroristic risk as a hate crime, graffiti, and conspiracy, in reference to the vandalism of the house of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak, in addition to these of three museum board trustees.
Taylor Pelton, Samuel Seligson and Gabriel Schubiner had been charged for the June 2024 incidents, through which pink paint was splashed throughout the entrance door and home windows of all 4 residences. At Pasternak’s Brooklyn Heights house, a banner was hung between two columns that learn: “Anne Pasternak / Brooklyn Museum / White Supremacist Zionist.” Beneath that assertion, in smaller, pink letters, had been the phrases “Funds Genocide.” The properties of Brooklyn Museum board chair Barbara Vogelstein, board treasurer Neil Simpkins, aandas president and chief working officer Kimberly Panicek Trueblood had been additionally graffitied with anti-Zionist messages that evening.
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Surveillance footage close to the 4 residences was utilized by investigators to determine the three people, and a stencil coated in pink paint had a fingerprint which was additionally recognized as belonging to Schubiner, in keeping with a press launch from the workplace of Brooklyn District Lawyer Eric Gonzalez.
The vandalism occurred round two weeks after a big pro-Palestine march resulted in entrance of the museum, assembly with a protest held within the foyer. Protestors on each side of the glass referred to as for the establishment to sentence the killing of Palestinians in Gaza and to divest from its monetary ties to Israel. Greater than 30 individuals had been arrested, main some artists and activists to accuse the New York Police Division of brutality. In an announcement to Hyperallergic, the museum mentioned that the NYPD officers current on the protest “responded as greatest they may to the overwhelming crowds and heightened tensions,” and museum management had “reached out to the neighborhood affairs management at NYPD to debate their actions on Friday and the way we will give attention to de-escalation going ahead.”
Pelton of Astoria, Queens, was arrested in early August. Seligson, an impartial videographer, was additionally arrested in August after being charged with two counts of felony mischief with a hate crime development—a felony in New York.
“Acts of vandalism that focus on people in their very own properties are a deeply disturbing violation meant to intimidate, terrorize, and instill concern,” Gonzalez added. “These defendants allegedly focused museum board members with threats and anti-Semitic graffiti primarily based on their perceived heritage. These actions are usually not protests; they’re hate crimes, and we’re deeply dedicated to holding accountable anybody who makes use of such illegal ways in Brooklyn.”
Different costs embrace making a terroristic risk, third- and fourth-degree felony mischief as a hate crime, third- and fourth-degree felony mischief, and making graffiti. Schubiner was formally knowledgeable of felony costs by Brooklyn Supreme Courtroom Justice Danny Chun on November and launched with out bail. The District Lawyer’s announcement mentioned that Seligson and Pelton are anticipated to be arraigned subsequent week.
The vandalism incidents generated allegations of antisemitism, together with from New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams. Pasternak is Jewish, although the opposite three board members who had been focused are usually not, in keeping with the New York Occasions.
Gonzalez’s press assertion additionally included a declare that Pelton, Seligson and Schubiner “allegedly focused members of the Brooklyn Museum’s Board of Administrators who’ve Jewish-sounding names and didn’t goal two board members who don’t have Jewish-sounding names.”
The press assertion mentioned that the inverted pink triangles painted on the home windows of Pasternak’s house had been an emblem “related to Hamas, a terrorist group.” Hyperallergic reported that the pink form is linked to the Palestinian flag and has been accused of that includes in Hamas fight methods.