Three people have been charged with “making a terroristic threat as a hate crime” in connection with the vandalism of the homes of four Brooklyn Museum leaders this summer, according to a statement from the Brooklyn District Attorney (DA) Eric Gonzalez today, November 4.
The homes of Director Anne Pasternak, Chairman of the Board Barbara Vogelstein, Treasurer of the Board Neil Simpkins and President and Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Panicek Trueblood were defaced with anti-Zionist messages and splashed with red paint on June 12, two weeks after a heavily controlled action. Palestine protest at the museum.
In an anonymous response to Hyperallergic in June, a group claiming responsibility for the graffiti said the action was a response to the Brooklyn Museum’s “blatant complicity in genocide,” citing the response to the May 31 protest and museum donors’ connections to investments in the Israeli army. (A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Museum had previously said the institution did not call the police and condemned “the police brutality that occurred.”)
The graffiti vandalism immediately led to accusations of anti-Semitism from local and national officials. Initial reports, including one in the New York Times falsely identified all four Brooklyn Museum officials as Jewish; only Pasternak is Jewish, a correction that was later clarified.
However, in his statement, Gonzalez claims that the three suspects “allegedly attacked members of the Brooklyn Museum board of directors with Jewish-sounding names and not two board members who did not have Jewish-sounding names.”
Gonzalez also noted that the group drew inverted red triangles on Pasternak’s windows, a symbol “associated with Hamas, a terrorist group.” The shape can sometimes be traced back to Hamas military videos, where it is used to indicate Israeli targets. It is connected to the red triangle depicted in the Palestinian flag.
The individuals named in the 25-count indictment are 36-year-old Gabriel Schubiner and 32-year-old Samuel Seligson, both Brooklyn residents, and 28-year-old Queens resident Taylor Pelton.
Investigators identified the trio from surveillance footage near the affected homes in the early morning of June 12, the district attorney’s office said in the news release. A fingerprint found on a stencil covered in red paint was also identified as belonging to Schubiner.
The group, which included the three named in the indictment and “three unarrested others,” were also filmed on Douglas Street carrying black bags. The same car the suspects were in was reportedly taken from Pasternak’s home.
Pelton and Seligson were arrested in connection with the incident in July and August, respectively. In a move condemned by some freedom advocacy organizations, Seligson, an independent videographer, was initially charged with traveling in a car with the rest of the group. The latest indictment also accuses Seligson of directing others to place “stuff” in the trunk of Pelton’s Red Honda Fit, as seen on surveillance video, and carrying black bags near the incident locations.
The New York Police Department declined to comment further on the investigation and charges. Hyperallergic has contacted the Brooklyn Museum for comment.
