A second person was arrested Tuesday and charged in acts of antisemitic vandalism at the New York City homes of two Brooklyn Museum leaders earlier this summer, court records show.
Samuel Seligson faces four felony counts of criminal mischief as a hate crime and four misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief for vandalizing, along with others, the homes of Brooklyn Museum Director Anne Pasternak and President and Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Panicek Trueblood in June, according to a criminal complaint.
The investigation remains ongoing, according to a New York City Police Department spokesperson.
CNN has reached out to Seligson’s attorney Leena Widdi for comment. Seligson is on supervised release and is scheduled to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court in November, prosecutors said.
Last week police arrested Taylor Pelton, 28, on the same charges, according to court records. Her attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, has declined comment. Pelton is on supervised release and is scheduled to be arraigned in October, according to the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.
Red paint was splattered on the front doors and windows of Pasternak’s home on June 12, and a sign was left hanging in the entrance filled with red handprints that referenced her and the museum, CNN previously reported.
Red inverted triangles were also painted on the windows and doors. The red inverted triangle is symbol used by the Hamas military wing to indicate Israeli and Jewish targets, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Also on June 12, the vandals also allegedly spraypainted the front and sidewalk of Trueblood’s building, and hung a banner decorated with red inverted triangles and referencing her by name, according to the complaint.
The United States has seen rising levels of antisemitic incidents since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, according to data from the ADL. The most recent data from the organization, which has tracked antisemitic incidents in the US since 1979, found a 140% increase in incidents from 2022 to 2023, with a “dramatic” increase taking place after October 7. According to NYPD data, 329 hate crime incidents took place in New York City during the first half of 2024, with 200 involving Jewish targets.
This may be some very horrible journalism, TBH:
- There’s zero indication that either offender has spoken specifically about Jews as enemies.
- Two Western, white sounding names advocating for the Palestinian people
- One of their lawyers has the name ‘Moira Meltzer-Cohen’ - clearly she hired a Jewish lawyer to represent her (smart!)
- No background is given on why they were targeted. My guess is because both of the victims can be easily connected back to pro-Zionist positions that make them somewhat famous advocates for Israel, maybe even as cogs in the machine that help fund the displacement of people in the West Bank.
Now I am not saying any of this justifies this level of vandalism. By all means, charge them with vandalism and note to everyone that it was clearly politically motivated…
But unless it is explicitly against Jews as Jews, it isn’t anti-Semitism.
Opposing Israel is not anti-Semitism, just as how opposing white nationalism isn’t anti-white.