Award-winning American actress, Susan Sarandon and Hacks star, Hannah Einbinder were among more than 100 people detained during an anti-Israel protest in New York on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly.
The New York Police Department said 103 protesters were taken into custody after officers moved to disperse a sit-in on First Avenue, a few blocks from the UN headquarters, where demonstrators were protesting Netanyahu’s visit.
Video from the scene showed police officers zip-tying Sarandon and Einbinder’s hands before escorting them towards an NYPD bus.
Protesters chanted slogans including “Fund people not bombs,” while others held placards reading “Stop arming Israel” and “End the genocide.”
Jewish Voice for Peace, which organised the demonstration, said comedian Caleb Hearon, author Glennon Doyle, congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier and former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning were also among those detained.
Other notable figures seen at the protest included actress and political activist Cynthia Nixon, playwright Tony Kushner, photographer Nan Goldin, poet Eileen Myles and congressional candidate Brad Lander.
Jewish Voice for Peace said it organised the sit-in to “call on the world to stop arming Israel and to end the genocide in Gaza.”
A CNN team at the scene reported a heavy police presence and said the protesters remained peaceful but were blocking traffic.
Officers arrived shortly after noon and warned the demonstrators to leave the street before beginning the arrests at about 1pm.
Following Netanyahu’s address, hundreds of protesters later marched through New York, chanting “Free Palestine,” “Gaza,” and “Netanyahu, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.”
During his UN speech, Netanyahu defended Israel’s military operations in Gaza and rejected international criticism. He also claimed, “We’d all be dead” if he had not attacked Iran.
Last year, a UN independent inquiry found that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The Israeli government has rejected the allegation, maintaining that its military campaign is being conducted in self-defence and in accordance with international law.
The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and a senior Hamas official over alleged war crimes.
Netanyahu has dismissed the warrant as “absurd” and “antisemitic.”
Sarandon has been a prominent supporter of Palestinian rights and has publicly criticised Netanyahu and Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Einbinder later acknowledged her detention in an Instagram story, writing, “If the pictures of my friends and me getting arrested in protest of Netanyahu’s shameful visit to New York draw attention to anything, let it be to the devastating genocidal war is waging against the people of Palestine and Southern Lebanon.”
