At least four activists were arrested outside the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City on Wednesday morning, September 17, while forming a blockade in protest of two tenants they say are profiteering from Israel’s violence against Palestinians.
Tucked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard complex (BNY), a group of city-owned buildings where tenants pay no real estate taxes, the surveillance drone manufacturer Easy Aerial is listed as a “Fine Art/Photography” business. The company has ties to both the Israeli military and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Not far away, Crye Precision, a textile producer that has allegedly supplied apparel for the Israeli military — a claim the company denies — carries the label “Fashion/Accessories” on the BNY’s website.
Over the last year, activists, community members, and, most recently, one state senator have called upon the BNY to evict Easy Aerial and Crye Precision. Today, during a board meeting held by the nonprofit development corporation that oversees the BNY, dozens of demonstrators of all ages formed a circle in front of the property, holding protest signs accusing the two companies of supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as characterized by a United Nations commission on Monday.
While a group of organizers led a press conference, demonstrators formed a blockade at an entrance to the yard’s Building 77. When Hyperallergic arrived, four individuals were being zip-tied and loaded into a New York Police Department (NYPD) van, where protesters stood face-to-face with police officers.
Activists later posted a video of an additional protester being tackled by the NYPD and claimed that a press photographer was “severely assaulted” by someone affiliated with the BNY.
NYPD declined to comment on the number of arrests, but said that 10 people chained themselves to a fence. No charges have been filed against the alleged assailant, according to the NYPD. A BNY spokesperson said that the individual responsible was arrested and that their access to the property has been revoked.
On BNY’s website, 63 businesses are categorized as “Fine Art/Photography,” the majority of which are legitimate galleries and artists’ studios. The Pratt Institute, for instance, operates a 20,000-square-foot research campus for digital archaeology, robotics, and other disciplines within the BNY.
In response to Hyperallergic’s inquiries regarding the protesters’ demands, a representative for BNY said that its website “broadly categorizes tenants based on what they produce,” noting that Easy Aerial “manufactures a drone-mounted camera” and that Crye produces different types of clothing, including surgical gowns.
“Leases are binding legal agreements. Evictions only take place when tenants violate the terms of such agreements and must be approved by a valid court order,” the spokesperson said. “Lease terms focus on financial obligations (i.e., rent), obligations as to compliance with laws, permitted uses, maintenance of premises, etc., but do not regulate particular business activities nor their choice of customers.”
Maisha Morales, a community advocate involved in local politics who resides in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, told Hyperallergic at today’s protest that the classification of Easy Aerial as a “fine art” business was “an insult to our intelligence.”
“How dare you? This is not fine arts,” Morales said.
Morales, who said she has previously testified before the development corporation board in support of evicting the two companies, opined that their tenancy betrays her perceived mission of the BNY as providing opportunities for working-class New Yorkers. Because the BNY is a Qualified Opportunity Zone, businesses may be eligible to defer taxes on capital gains through 2026.
“I can’t control what happens with my federal tax dollars, right? But I can control what happens with my local tax dollars,” Morales said.
For weeks, Hyperallergic has followed members of the group Demilitarize Brooklyn Navy Yard, a coalition of activists and community members demanding that the public-owned building evict Easy Aerial and Crye Precision. The group gathers at the BNY for regular demonstrations, blaring horns and chanting into megaphones during rush hour traffic on Flushing Avenue.
Easy Aerial, headquartered in the yard’s Building 77, manufactures military-grade autonomous surveillance drones which, according to the company’s promotional materials, have been deployed at Israeli border posts. In a June 2021 promotional video, a commander in the Israeli military’s “Gaza Division” explained how she uses Easy Aerial’s drone to coordinate with snipers on the ground to “fire.” The company has collaborated with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defense firm.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the company has also sold drones that have been used in Tzur Hadassah, which borders the Occupied West Bank, to surveil “intruders from a neighboring Palestinian village.”
On the first anniversary of October 7 in 2024, Easy Aerial said on LinkedIn that it was “proud to have played a role in supporting Israel’s defense forces” and that its technologies had enhanced the “surveillance, protection, and aid” of Israeli communities.
The US Department of Homeland Security has also funded the drone manufacturer through an Israel-US program. This summer, the agency forecasted a $1–2 million contract between the US Border Patrol and Easy Aerial for “inhibiting threat migration.”
Easy Aerial has not yet responded to multiple requests for comment, but has previously characterized its products as defensive and has claimed that protesters are misguided.
Crye Precision was founded in 2000 by Cooper Union alumni Caleb Crye and Gregg Thompson. In a statement to Hyperallergic, a representative for the company denied having any contracts with Israeli manufacturers or the military and called the Brooklyn activists’ claims “false and misleading.” Federal court documents filed by the company’s own lawyer in 2023 for an unrelated matter, however, contained an admission that the company’s copyrighted camouflage design was “adopted for use by all or portions of the armed forces” of countries including Israel and the United States. Crye denied that the statement in the federal court filing was true and could not “account for why it’s in that text.”
Crye Precision’s website also lists Agilite, a manufacturer of tactical gear for the Israeli military, as one of the companies that licenses its MultiCam® camouflage pattern.
“Crye Precision does not sell weapons or drones, nor do we have any contracts with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or any Israeli manufacturers,” the spokesperson said.
New York State Senator Jabari Brisport, who represents the 25th District, where the BNY is located, attended the press conference in support of the activists this morning.
Brisport told Hyperallergic that he’s seen an “openness” among BNY leadership to change the “Fine Art” and “Fashion” designations of the businesses, but that his ultimate goal is eviction.
“We have two businesses here that are complicit in the genocide,” Brisport told Hyperallergic. “This is something we can do locally and plug into, especially at a time when people feel like their national leaders are not listening to them at all on Israel.”
Activists planned to enter public comment in the meeting today; however, on Tuesday night, BNY Development Corporation Lindsay Greene told activists in an email reviewed by Hyperallergic that there would be no public comments allowed.
When members of the press and organizers arrived at the yard this morning, credentialed reporters were denied access to the Building 92 courtyard, where the meeting was occurring inside. A spokesperson for BNY told Hyperallergic that the building courtyard was closed for “security reasons.”
Outside the gates, one protester held a toddler in their arms.
“At this moment, there are babies like my baby, like this baby right here, the same exact size, who are being blown up,” the protester told a crowd of reporters. “They do not want to be accountable to the babies and children of Gaza, and they don’t want to be accountable to the Black and Brown families in New York City.”
