The New York Police Department is investigating incidents of vandalism apparently targeting the homes of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak and several board members.
According to information posted by New York City officials, a building in Brooklyn Heights and “other locations affiliated with” Brooklyn Museum leaders were targeted overnight between 11 June and 12 June. Outside the building in Brooklyn Heights, a banner was hung with the message “Brooklyn Museum Anne Pasternak White-Supremacist Zionist” and “Funds Genocide”, as well as blood-red handprints. Nearby doors and windows were also splashed with fake blood.
“We are deeply troubled by these horrible acts targeting leaders connected to the museum,” a spokesperson for the Brooklyn Museum told The Art Newspaper in a statement. “For two centuries, the Brooklyn Museum has worked to foster mutual understanding through art and culture, and we have always supported peaceful protest and open, respectful dialogue. Violence, vandalism, and intimidation have no place in that discourse.”
According to NBC New York, several other homes throughout the city were similarly targeted in multiple incidents on Tuesday night. Sources at the NYPD told the outlet that the police are looking for around 15 people, and that the group was last seen driving a white U-Haul rental truck on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
In a statement on Wednesday, the members of the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD)—of which Pasternak is a member—denounced the vandalism.
“We, the members of AAMD, unequivocally and forcefully condemn this antisemitic act,” the statement reads. “As cultural leaders—and also as people of different backgrounds and experiences—we understand the emotion and anger the Israel-Hamas war has wrought. This, however, does not mean that protestors have unencumbered rights to attack individual persons in pursuit of their cause. Whether at someone’s home or at a museum, this behaviour is inexcusable. It does tremendous disservice to discourse and conflict resolution, and the ends simply do not justify the means. We hope that the authorities will pursue and prosecute the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to New York city council member Lincoln Restler—who visited the building in Brooklyn Heights, which is in his district—the incident was captured on video and the NYPD is investigating. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), New York City comptroller Brad Lander described the vandals’ actions as “way over the line into antisemitism, harming the cause they claim to care about, and making everyone less safe”.
The targeted attack on Pasternak’s apartment building comes less than two weeks after a major pro-Palestine demonstration at the Brooklyn Museum, which was met with a violent response from the NYPD and resulted in more than 30 arrests.
