Anti-Israel protesters blasted for calling Brooklyn Museum vandalism ‘peaceful’
Pro-Palestinian advocates were blasted online after defending antisemitic vandalism spray-painted on the homes of the Brooklyn Museum director and a number of its board members, calling the hostile messages a form of “peaceful” protest.
Controversial CUNY Law School grad Nerdeen Kiswani, who leads the radically anti-Israel Within Our Lifetime organization, wrote on X that the defacement was “pretty peaceful” in response to a tweet from Mayor Eric Adams slamming the vandalism as “a crime, and it’s overt, unacceptable antisemitism.”
“Actually this is pretty peaceful compared to what the Brooklyn museum did to peaceful protesters by bringing in the cops who tackled me and left others bloodied,” Kiswani replied. “And this is definitely peaceful compared to the bloodshed in Gaza that their board actively supports.”
The vandalism left the home of museum director Anne Pasternak covered in red paint splatters with the words “blood on your hands” written on it and a sign reading “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White Supremacist Zionist” on Wednesday.
Kiswani, who accused the museum of ignoring WOL’s protests — including one two weeks ago where police were called after some 800 protesters stormed the cultural institution — received swift pushback on the post, with one person asking “What’s your address? I’ll organise (sic) some of this ‘pretty peaceful’ for you.”
Another commentator added: “If you have to explain that your protest is actually peaceful despite how it looks, you’ve already lost the plot.”
Seth Barron, the managing editor of The American Mind, a publication from conservative think tank The Claremont Institute, weighed in, writing, “Do you understand that breaking the law is not peaceful? Invading property is violent.”
Palestinian-American poet and writer Remi Kanazi also took to X to respond to Adams’ comments, saying that framing the vandalism “as antisemitism is anti-Palestinian racism.”
In a list, Kanazi wrote, “1. Many homes were targeted, not just those of Jewish board members. To frame this as antisemitism is anti-Palestinian racism 2. This is peaceful protest 3. When you are complicit in genocide, people will rightfully protest 4. You are profiting off of genocide 5. F–k you.”
In a follow-up tweet, Kanazi added, “Imagine being outraged at some paint & a sign when you are literally profiting off the genocide of more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinians have become entities. The doorways and feelings of genocide profiteers are more important than the millions of Palestinian lives.”
Commentators under Kanazi’s post slammed his definition of a “peaceful protest,” many noting there shouldn’t be destruction of property during one.
“A peaceful protest doesn’t damage property. Gtfo with your peaceful protest. A war isn’t a genocide. Keep calling it that. Won’t change the truth that it is a war. This latest round once again started by hamas and their followers. Those who did this are nothing but criminals,” one person wrote.
Another person added: “The red hand symbol expresses the desire to murder Jews.”
One other peeved X user added: “You’re uncivilised criminal thugs. Your rationalizations don’t hold water. No excuse for criminal behaviour like that.”
The Post reached out to Kanazi and WOL for comment.
It was not clear if Kanazi or Kiswani were involved in the protest or just providing commentary on the incident.
The vandalism comes weeks after anti-Israel protesters busted into the museum on May 31 and set up an encampment, defaced artwork and draped a banner from the side of the building declaring the war in Gaza “genocide.”
The museum’s yellow “OY/YO” sculpture was left covered in graffiti reading “Free Palestine” and “Free Gaza.”
