A woman is arrested in vandalism at museum officials’ homes during pro-Palestinian protests

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who police say helped vandalize the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s leaders with red paint during a wave of pro-Palestinian protests has been arrested on hate crimes charges.

Taylor Pelton, 28, was arrested Wednesday on charges of criminal mischief and criminal mischief as a hate crime, police said.

Police say Pelton was one of six people seen on surveillance video vandalizing the homes of the museum’s director, Anne Pasternak, and its chief operating officer, Kimberly Trueblood, on June 12. The other people seen in the videos were still being sought Thursday.

Pasternak is Jewish. The activists left the front of her apartment building splattered with paint and a banner calling her a “white-supremacist Zionist.” An inverted red triangle that authorities say is a symbol used by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets was sprayed onto her door, according to court papers.

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

In an email, Pelton’s attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, didn’t address the specifics of the charges but criticized “the increasing trend of characterizing Palestine solidarity actions as hate crimes.” She said 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 paint splashing happened days after hundreds of pro-Palestinians protesters marched to the museum, occupied its lobby, vandalized artworks and hung a “Free Palestine” banner from its roof. Police arrested several dozen people.

The protest group Within Our Lifetime and other organizers of those demonstrations said they targeted the museum because they believed it was “deeply invested in and complicit” in Israel’s military actions in Gaza through its leadership, trustees, corporate sponsors and donors — an accusation museum officials denied.

Many New York City leaders criticized the protests and noted the museum’s track record of fighting for the First Amendment rights of artists and occasionally angering conservative critics. As recently as last fall, the museum was accused of tolerating antisemitism after hosting an art fair at which one vendor sold material with the slogans “globalize the intifada” and “river to the sea.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who lives near the museum, said at the time in a speech on the Senate floor that the vandalism targeting the museum’s leaders was antisemitic.

“This is 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.”

Brooklyn Museum officials said in a statement that “it is crucial to distinguish between peaceful protest and criminal acts.”

The officials said the museum’s vision “remains rooted in the belief that art fosters dialogue and mutual understanding among people with diverse experiences and perspectives.”