In an egregious violation of press freedoms and First Amendment-protected activity, a New York City video journalist was arrested on felony hate crime charges Tuesday for allegedly being present during and documenting a pro-Palestine protest action.
According to the charges, Sam Seligson, a credentialed independent videographer, filmed a small group of people last June graffitiing the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s director, president, and two other museum officials with pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist slogans.
Spray-painted messages and banners hung on the properties accused the museum leaders of complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. A week prior, the museum had called in police to mass arrest protesters who had assembled inside its building to demand divestment from holdings related to Israel’s war. ….more