Pics released of pro-Palestine protesters wanted for vandalizing home of Brooklyn Museum director
NEW YORK — The NYPD released surveillance footage Thursday of five pro-Palestinian protesters wanted for vandalizing the home of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak — and asked the public’s help tracking them down.
The five vandals early Wednesday tossed red paint on Pasternak’s Brooklyn Heights home and painted inverted red triangles on the doors, which Jewish advocate Aviva Klompas described as a “symbol used by terrorists to mark targets they want to take out.”
The NYPD is labeling the incident a hate crime.
The activists, all clad in dark clothing and wearing face masks, also tied a banner that was peppered with red handprints and read “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White-Supremacist Zionist.”
Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other elected officials denounced the vandalism — part of a seemingly coordinated pre-dawn spree that also targeted the homes of museum board members.
“This is a crime, and it’s overt, unacceptable antisemitism,” Adams tweeted. “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.”
A Brooklyn home in Cobble Hill, plus two in Manhattan, were also targeted. Police have not determined if the same five suspects are behind those incidents..
Meanwhile, in what appears to be vandalism by pro-Israeli protesters, at about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday 15 vandals on the Upper East Side splattered with red paint the front of the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations. The suspects fled the scene of the mission in a white U-Haul truck.
The Brooklyn Museum was first targeted on May 31, when hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the museum, with some getting into the building and setting up tents. NYPD cops arrested 34 protesters during the raucous rally.
On Monday, protesters rallied outside the Nova Exhibition, a memorial created to honor the victims of Hamas’ attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds hostage. Some protesters waved a flag with Hamas’ emblem, as well as a sign lauding the massacre.
Adams and relatives of those killed during the Oct. 7 terror attack visited the exhibition Tuesday, calling the previous day’s protest “despicable.”
Cops are asking the public’s help identifying the five suspects in the Brooklyn Heights vandalism.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
