Police arrested approximately 100 protesters, including actors and politicians, outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City during a demonstration against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his address to the UN General Assembly. Among those arrested were Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon, Emmy winner Hannah Einbinder, Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, and New York City Council member Chi Osse.
The protest, organized by the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace, attracted around 200 participants wearing identical white T-shirts with slogans such as "Fund people not bombs," "No war," and "Free Palestine." Protesters blocked traffic, and after police issued orders to disperse via loudspeakers, some moved to the sidewalks. Officers then surrounded the protesters who remained seated on the pavement, chanting, "Netanyahu go to hell." The demonstrators were subsequently escorted to police buses.
Protester Manijeh Moradian, a 50-year-old university professor of Iranian and Jewish heritage, stated, "What’s being done to Gaza, the obliteration of an entire society, in our name, with our tax dollars, this is our responsibility to speak out against, and Netanyahu has no right to use the platform of the United Nations to justify these atrocities."
Inside the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu defended Israel’s actions in the Middle East, attempting to counter growing international isolation ahead of Israel’s upcoming elections, while dozens of delegates left the hall in protest.
Separately, pro-Palestine protesters gathered on the steps of the New York Public Library in Manhattan, waving Palestinian flags and carrying banners that read, "New York rejects Zionism" and "Palestine deserves freedom."
Rabbi Yitzchok Deutsch, a representative of Neturei Karta International, criticized Netanyahu, stating that he was "using our religion, our identity, to justify all these crimes." Deutsch expressed gratitude to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his efforts to arrest Netanyahu. Protester Melissa Zuniga questioned why Netanyahu was permitted to speak at the UN despite having an international warrant for his arrest.