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Actors Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder were among the protestors detained in New York City on Thursday as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly.
Photos showed Sarandon, 79, and Einbinder, 31, in handcuffs with members of the New York Police Department, with the former wearing a shirt that said “fund people not bombs.”
CBC News has contacted both actors’ representatives for comment.
Several hundred anti-Israel protesters gathered near the United Nations before Netanyahu’s speech, with dozens blocking traffic and chanting: “Stop arming Israel, let Gaza live” and “Stop arming Israel, let Iran live.”
Dozens of delegates stood up and walked out of the UN hall when Netanyahu began his speech to the meeting of world leaders. His supporters in the gallery chanted in Hebrew: “The people of Israel live.”
Actor Susan Sarandon was detained by police in New York on Thursday during a protest demanding an end to U.S. arms support for Israel. Officers detained Sarandon near the U.N. headquarters, along with another demonstrator whose wrists were secured with zip ties.
Describing those members as “moral cowards,” Netanyahu asked anyone else who felt the same way to leave the room before he started to speak.
Netanyahu faces an election next month widely seen as a referendum on his responsibility for the security failures surrounding the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023 and his ability to defend Israel’s reputation on the world stage.
Day after day this week, as other heads of state have stepped to the UN podium, many have harshly criticized Israel’s actions, particularly in Gaza.
Ahead of his visit, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the U.S. should honour a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest issued by the International Criminal Court. The prime minister is wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Gaza, though the U.S. is not a member of the court and New York City lacks the authority to make an arrest.
Earlier on Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the assembly through pre-recorded remarks from his office in Ramallah after the United States denied him and other top Palestinian officials visas to attend the gathering for the second year in a row.
“The Palestinian people face one of the most dangerous times in its history,” Abbas said, citing long-term military occupation in the West Bank and the war in Gaza.
Israel, he said, “has targeted all of the basic necessities of life.”
