Susan Sarandon, Hannah Einbinder Arrested at UN Protest
Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder were arrested Thursday outside United Nations headquarters in New York, during a protest against Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the General Assembly.
Actress Susan Sarandon and her “Hacks” co-star Hannah Einbinder were arrested Thursday, September 24, at a protest outside United Nations headquarters in New York. The arrests happened on First Avenue, a few blocks from the UN building, just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly.
The protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. Demonstrators sat down in the street and blocked traffic, and police ordered them over a loudspeaker to disperse. Part of the crowd moved onto the sidewalk, but the core of the protest stayed seated in the road as officers on bicycles surrounded them. Police then pulled protesters out of the group one by one, zip tied their wrists and walked them to police buses.
While they were sitting in the street, the demonstrators chanted, “Netanyahu, you can’t hide, you are wanted for genocide.” They repeated the same chant as they were led away in restraints, this time shouting “Netanyahu go to hell.”
Cameras captured the moment police walked Sarandon away from the protest. Einbinder, who is Jewish, shouted as she was pulled out of the crowd: “Free Palestine! Get Netanyahu out of New York.”
Sources disagree on exactly how many people were arrested. CNN put the number at 103, Nova.rs reported about 100, and the Jerusalem Post said at least 30. Estimates of the crowd size vary too: organizers put it at around 250 people, while the Jerusalem Post cited a figure closer to 200.
Besides Sarandon and Einbinder, those taken into custody included comedian Caleb Heron, former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, congressional candidate Darijaliza Avila Sevalije and New York City Council member Chi Ossé. Demonstrators wore matching white T shirts printed with “Fund people not bombs,” “No war” and “Free Palestine.” Actress Cynthia Nixon, actor Elliot Page and musicians Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus were also seen at the protest.
Asked why she had come out to protest, university professor Manijeh Moradiyan, 50, explained to the Jerusalem Post:
“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”
The first reports on the arrests did not say whether the protesters would face misdemeanor or criminal charges, or when that would be decided.
While the demonstrators sat on First Avenue, Netanyahu was inside UN headquarters addressing the General Assembly. Dozens of delegates walked out of the hall as soon as he began speaking, and some of those who stayed shouted questions from the floor about a possible war crimes trial, aimed at both him and his wife, Sara.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said earlier this year that he would order the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu, citing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant from November 2024, though he later admitted he had no legal authority to do so. That same afternoon, he posted a video on social media showing him planting an olive tree with Palestinian families from Gaza.
Sarandon has spent years publicly criticizing Israeli policy toward Palestinians. Earlier this month, at the Venice Film Festival, she told reporters that she had “lost” several film roles over her political views. Einbinder has also spoken out before about the war in Gaza, and ahead of this protest she said she was taking part “as a Jewish person, an American and a human being.”
