Three people, including the institution’s director, Anne Pasternak, and two board members “with Jewish names” have been charged with hate crimes for allegedly vandalizing the homes of Brooklyn Museum leaders.

Last June, pro-Palestinian activists targeted the homes of two museum board members and Pasternak; The main entrance to the second building in Brooklyn Heights was painted with red paint, and a banner reading “Brooklyn Museum Anne Pasternak White Supremacist Zionist” and “Funding Genocide” was placed in front of the main door. In August, two people allegedly involved in the action – Queens resident Taylor Pelton and Brooklyn-based journalist Samuel Seligson – were arrested and charged with hate crimes, among other charges.

This week’s charges filed by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez concern Pelton, Seligson and a third suspect, Brooklyn resident Gabriel Schubiner. The 25-count indictment against them includes charges of making terroristic threats as a hate crime, third and fourth degree mischief as a hate crime, graffiti, and fifth degree conspiracy. Schubiner appeared in court on Monday, November 4, and was released without bail; Seligson and Pelton are scheduled to appear in court next week.

According to Gonzalez, the suspects deliberately targeted the homes of museum board members with Jewish names.

“Acts of vandalism targeting individuals in their own homes are a deeply disturbing violation intended to intimidate, terrorize and instill fear,” Gonzalez said. expression. “These defendants allegedly targeted museum board members with threats and anti-Semitic graffiti based on their perceived heritage. These actions are not protests; “These are hate crimes, and we are committed to holding accountable anyone who uses such illegal tactics in Brooklyn.”

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Museum did not respond to a request for comment on the latest accusations of vandalism against the homes of institutional leaders.

Gonzalez’s office alleges that the three suspects and three others who have not yet been captured first visited the home of a Brooklyn Museum board member in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill neighborhood in the early morning hours of June 12. The message “Brooklyn Museum, you have blood on your hands” was allegedly written in red paint and a banner was left with the name of the board member saying “blood on your hands, war crimes, genocide funds”. The group, which then allegedly targeted Pasternak’s home in Brooklyn Heights, proceeded to Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where they marked the home of museum board chair Barbara M. Vogelstein with red paint.

The targeted attacks on the homes of museum leaders come less than two weeks after a massive pro-Palestinian demonstration at the Brooklyn Museum that was met with a violent response from the NYPD and resulted in the arrests of more than 30 people. Like many U.S. institutions, since the inception of Israel-Hamas, the Brooklyn Museum has faced calls to cut ties with corporate partners and individual donors whose finances activists say are tied to the Israeli government, military or Israeli defense industry.

In the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, around 1,200 people were killed and around 250 people were taken hostage (approximately 250 people). 100 hostages still held). Accordingly Anti-Defamation League dataIncidents of antisemitism in the United States tripled in the year after the October 7 attacks compared to the previous 12-month period.

More than 43,000 people have been killed in the Israeli army’s ongoing air and ground offensives in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Accordingly an analysis According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, approximately 70% of the victims of the conflict are women and children.