Authorities are investigating reports of vandals targeting the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s Jewish director and some board members after NYC Comptroller Brad Lander posted photos of red paint-smeared doors and hateful speech.
“The cowards who did this are way over the line into antisemitism, harming the cause they claim to care about, and making everyone less safe,” Lander said in a post on X Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was responsible for the vandalism.
Lander shared photos of a banner hanging outside the graffitied home of what appeared to be Brooklyn Museum Director Anne Pasternak, in Brooklyn Heights.
The building’s superintendent says surveillance video shows 5 people wearing masks and in head-to-toe black defacing the courtyard and hoisting a banner with the director’s name and an antisemitic message. On the ground, stencil graffiti read “Blood on Your Hands.”
About a mile away, the family home of another Brooklyn Museum executive was also vandalized.
According to the NYPD, the department is investigating multiple incidents throughout the city where red paint has been thrown or spray-painted onto homes. The pattern hasn’t been limited to any particular borough, they say.
Senior police sources say they’re looking for about 15 people. The group was last seen at East 65th Street and Park Avenue in a white U-Haul truck, where police said the suspects splattered red paint over two other homes linked to Jewish board members, according to the city’s comptroller, bringing the total number of homes hit to four.
No injuries have been reported.
A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Museum confirmed it had notified the NYPD of the acts of vandalism.
“We are deeply troubled by these horrible acts,” the spokesperson said.
It comes after a recently released report found antisemitic incidents in New York and New Jersey more than doubled last year, as such reports skyrocketed to record levels across the country in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
In a social post on X, Mayor Eric Adams said, “This is not peaceful protest or free speech. This is a crime, and it’s overt, unacceptable antisemitism. 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. I spoke to Anne this morning and committed that this hate will not stand in our city. The NYPD is investigating and will bring the criminals responsible here to justice.”
On May 31, 34 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested at the Brooklyn Museum after storming the museum and setting up tents in the lobby.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
