Two people, including a journalist, have been arrested and charged with hate crimes over an action in June during which pro-Palestine activists sprayed red paint on the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s director and board members.
Taylor Pelton, a resident of Queens, was arrested last week; she has been charged with multiple counts of criminal mischief in the third degree, according to the New York Post. Samuel Seligson, a Brooklyn-based journalist, was arrested on 6 August and faces two counts of criminal mischief, according to The New York Times.
Both are being charged as hate crimes; the vandalism targeted the Brooklyn Heights home of Anne Pasternak, the Brooklyn Museum’s director, who is Jewish. A banner hung outside her home during the night from 11 June to 12 June read “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White-Supremacist Zionist” and “Funds Genocide”. The activists also painted an inverted red triangle on the building, a symbol authorities claim Hamas has used to identify buildings targeted by the Israeli military, according to the Associated Press. In addition to Pasternak’s home, activists targeted the homes of museum president and chief operating officer Kimberly Panicek Trueblood and the residences of two trustees.
The charges against Seligson in particular have raised concerns that he is being targeted for activities that are part of his work as a journalist. His lawyer, Leena Widdi, told the Times that he has worked for Reuters, Al-Jazeera, ABC and other outlets as a videographer, and that his arrest violates US federal protections ensuring freedom of speech and of the press.
“Mr Seligson is being charged for alleged behaviour that is protected by the First Amendment and consistent with his job as a credentialed member of the press,” Widdi said. “Nothing in the complaint against Mr Seligson alleges anything more than behaviour consistent with his role as a journalist.”
The pro-freedom of expression organisation PEN America has publicly condemned Seligson’s arrest. “Reporting is not a crime,” Viktorya Vilk, the director of the organisation’s digital safety programme, said in a statement. “The work of journalists is protected by the First Amendment and can require proximity to criminal activity. This arrest on serious charges risks discouraging journalists from the important work of documenting possible hate crimes. If the NYPD has compelling evidence that Seligson actively participated in a crime, they must make that clear; otherwise, the [District Attorney] should drop these unconstitutional charges immediately and allow journalists to do their jobs.”
Pelton faces additional charges in Manhattan Criminal Court alleging that she drove Seligson and four as-yet-unidentified people who have not been apprehended on the night of the incident, according to the Times.
Ten days prior to the vandalism at museum leaders’ homes, activists had staged a rally and protest at the Brooklyn Museum, calling for transparency regarding the institution’s financial ties to Israel and divestment. Activists reached the roof of the museum building and unfurled a banner that read: “Free Palestine Divest from Genocide.” The NYPD ultimately arrested 34 people participating in the protest.
On Thursday morning (8 August), the Brooklyn Heights home of Columbia University's chief operating officer, Cas Holloway, was vandalized with red paint, ABC7 reported. Flyers left at the scene criticised Holloway's handling of campus protests at Columbia, which kicked off a global student protest movement whereby students (and some faculty) set up tent encampments in solidarity with Palestine. Many were forcibly dismantled following violent crackdowns by police and attacks by counter-protesters.
The Brooklyn Museum is one of dozens of institutions around the world that have been settings for or targets of pro-Palestine protests since the 7 October 2023 terror attack on Israel by Hamas and the Israeli military began its retaliatory invasion of Gaza. Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the 7 October attacks and around 250 were taken hostage. Israel’s invasion of Gaza has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians according to the latest figures from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
