Hollywood stars among 100 arrested in New York anti-Netanyahu protest
- Last updated: September 25, 2026 | 14:48
Movie star Susan Sarandon and "Hacks" actress Hannah Einbinder were among a reported 100 people detained by police in New York on Thursday as they broke up a protest against the Israeli prime minister.
AFP footage showed NYPD officers leading away cuffed "Thelma & Louise" star Sarandon at the demo in the city as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was readying to address the United Nations General Assembly.
The New York Post reported Einbinder had also been frog-marched from the demonstration organised by Jewish Voice for Peace, where protesters held banners that read "Stop Arming Israel" and "End the Genocide."
A spokesperson for the NYPD said officers had responded to reports of an "unscheduled demonstration" where people were blocking an intersection.
"Members of the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau issued... warnings, advising participants that they should leave," the spokesperson said.
"They continued to block the intersection. Multiple individuals who didn't comply were taken into custody," she said, without providing the number of people arrested.
Jewish Voice for Peace said on social media that over 100 people had been arrested.
"Over 400 people held a mass sit-in outside the UN demanding an end to the genocide and an end to US military funding to Israel," the organisation said on X.
"We refuse to stand by while war criminals are given a platform to speak and while our government spends billions on war."
Inside the General Assembly, dozens of envoys from across the world walked out as Netanyahu began his speech, in which he assailed both enemies and allies that have crossed him in recent months, including Britain and France, which have recently moved to recognise the state of Palestine.
"They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism – some colonialism. And who's accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God's sakes, they invented the term," he told the assembly.
'Biggest lie of the century'
Lashing out at his country's critics, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily dismissed allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza as "the biggest lie of the century" in a defiant speech to the UN General Assembly that asserted his nation's right to wage war against Iran. Scores of delegates trooped out of the hall in protest.
Netanyahu addressed the plenum after days of speeches by world leaders condemning Israel's war in Gaza and accusing him of orchestrating a genocide against the Palestinian people. At times, the Israeli leader, facing a tough race for re-election next month, became emotional and indignant as he lectured his critics, among them New York's mayor.
Sarandon, whose movie hits also include "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Dead Man Walking" and "The Witches of Eastwick," is no stranger to protests over Israel's war in Gaza.
The US actress told journalists at the Venice Film Festival this month that she was losing work because of her outspoken views.
"I've still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still. But that's the power structure," she said.
"I think there has been a change in terms of the understanding of the situation and the general public, but there are still very strongly held positions within my industry that are held by Zionists and who have not relaxed their feelings towards me.
"But I found my family, I found my people, and I'm okay," she added.
Agence France-Presse