Woman charged with hate crime for vandalizing home of Jewish director of Brooklyn Museum

A woman has been charged with hate crime in connection to the vandalization of the home of the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum , police say.

The Brooklyn Museum has been called upon by pro-Palestinian protesters earlier this year to disclose any Israel-related investments and asked them to divest from any such funding, sparking an occupation of parts of the museum in May in protest.

The following month, several homes, including that of Brooklyn Museum’s director Anne Pasternak, were vandalized with red paint, and a banner was erected that stated: “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White-Supremacist Zionist” over the front door.

The banner also depicted red hand prints and the words “funds genocide” can be seen at the bottom.

Along with the red paint splatters, red inverted triangles – likely used to symbolize Palestinian resistance, The Guardian said – were also painted on the windows and doors of the home. The symbol has also been used by Hamas’ military wing to identify Israeli military targets, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

After the incident that occurred in mid-June, New York City’s mayor Eric Adams said , “This is not peaceful protest or free speech. This is a crime, and it’s overt, unacceptable antisemitism .”

“These actions will never be tolerated in New York City for any reason. I’m sorry to Anne Pasternak and members of @brooklynmuseum’s board who woke up to hatred like this,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also said at the time in a speech on the Senate floor that the vandalism was “the face of hatred.”

“Jewish Americans made to feel unsafe in their own home – just because they are Jewish,” he said. “This is not even close to free speech. This is intimidation. It is scapegoating. It is dehumanization.”

Taylor Pelton, 28, has now been arrested and charged criminal mischief and criminal mischief as a hate crime in the vandalization of Pasternak’s home in June, NYPD Detective Gregory Green told CNN on Thursday.

Pelton was allegedly part of a group of protesters spotted on surveillance video who carried out the vandalism on June 12, police say. The others seen in the videos were still being sought on Thursday.

Peloton was arraigned on Wednesday night and released with court supervision, a Brooklyn district attorney’s office spokesperson said.

In a statement to The Associated Press , Pelton’s attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, did not discuss the details of the charges but criticized “the increasing trend of characterizing Palestine solidarity actions as hate crimes.”

She added that the willingness of prosecutors “to endorse the rhetorical collapse of Zionist ideology and protected religious identity, in order to criminalize criticism of Israel, signals a troubling departure from the principles on which our legal and political systems rest.”

The Brooklyn Museum said it is aware of the criminal charges against the suspect, and its spokesperson, Taylor Maatman, told CNN that its “leadership believes it is crucial to distinguish between peaceful protest and criminal acts.”

“Our museum has a long history of supporting artists’ free expression and uplifting people through powerful art experiences,” Maatman said. “Our vision remains rooted in the belief that art fosters dialogue and mutual understanding among people with diverse experiences and perspectives.”

The houses of other board members of the Brooklyn Museum were also vandalized, happening just weeks after hundreds of protesters demonstrated at the museum and occupied much of the lobby before unfurling a ‘Free Palestine’ banner on the building’s roof.

Pro-Palestine organization Within Our Lifetime and other protest organizers have said that the museum is “deeply invested in and complicit” in Israel’s military actions in Gaza through its leadership, trustees, corporate sponsors and donors, an accusation that museum officials have denied, the AP reported.

Since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed approximately 1,200 people, and the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza, which have killed more than 39,000 people , there has been an uptick in hate for Muslim and Jewish Americans.

Antisemitic, Islamophobic and anti-Arab hate incidents have climbed to unprecedented levels, according to civil rights advocates.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says they tracked 8,061 complaints of anti-Muslim incidents in 2023, a 56 per cent increase since the previous year, with the Anti-Defamation League reporting that there has been a 140 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents in 2023 compared to the previous year.

In a further statement to The Independent, Pelton’s attorney Meltzer-Cohen said, “What I can say is that while obviously the First Amendment does not immunize against prosecution for otherwise unlawful conduct, it does protect us against prosecution for the substance of our speech. Cases like this, where the state attempts to apply a hate crime charge, in order to deprive political speech of its protected character -- that is, in order to make certain viewpoints, as opposed to certain conduct, subject to prosecution -- should be alarming to everyone.”

The Independent has contacted the Brooklyn Museum for further comment.