Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder Among Arrests at UN Netanyahu Protest

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder were among roughly 100 people taken into custody outside United Nations headquarters in New York as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to address the General Assembly, The Guardian and Variety reported Thursday.

The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, drew hundreds of protesters wearing matching white T-shirts with slogans such as “Stop Arming Israel” and “End the Genocide,” according to The Guardian’s account of the scene near First Avenue. NYPD officers said they responded to an “unscheduled demonstration” that blocked an intersection; after Community Affairs warnings, multiple people who remained in the roadway were taken into custody.

Agence France-Presse footage circulated showing officers cuffing Sarandon as Netanyahu’s speech approached. Variety noted that images of Sarandon and Einbinder being led away in cuffs spread widely on social media before the address began. Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier and New York City Council member Chi Ossé were also among those arrested, The Guardian reported.

Inside the hall, dozens of national envoys walked out as Netanyahu began speaking. The New York Times account cited by Variety said the prime minister opened by challenging delegates who left, asking where they had been when Iranian authorities “butchered and maimed tens of thousands of unarmed Iranian civilians.” He later criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and internet streamer Hasan Piker, Variety reported.

Both actors have been among Hollywood’s most visible critics of Israel’s war in Gaza. At the Venice Film Festival this month, Sarandon told journalists she was still losing work because agencies advise clients not to hire her, calling that dynamic “the power structure” while saying she has found community among people who share her stance, per The Guardian. Einbinder told the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year that “the cost of not speaking is higher,” arguing that even one human life outweighs career risk — a quote Variety and The Guardian both carried.

Jewish Voice for Peace put the UN-area arrest total near 100; other local tallies cited more than 100 people detained after traffic was blocked, with City Council members Alexa Avilés and Jennifer Gutiérrez and Assemblymember Emily Gallagher also named in reporting on the broader Manhattan protests. NBC New York and other outlets said many of those taken in at the primary sit-in were later released.

For readers following culture and politics on Daily News, the arrests landed on a day already framed by high-stakes diplomacy and walkouts inside the UN. Netanyahu’s appearance came as several governments that recently moved toward recognizing a Palestinian state faced sharp criticism from the podium, while celebrities and local elected officials chose civil disobedience outside.

Sarandon’s filmography spans Thelma & Louise, Dead Man Walking and decades of activism; Einbinder’s Emmy-winning turn on Hacks has made her one of television’s most outspoken younger stars. Their joint appearance at the Jewish Voice for Peace action underscores how entertainment figures continue to treat Gaza and U.S. military aid as career-risking public fights rather than private opinions.

Variety cautioned early that it was not yet confirmed whether the actors were formally arrested or briefly detained, and said it had reached out to the NYPD and the performers’ representatives. The Guardian’s later account treated the detentions as part of a wider police sweep of protesters who refused to clear the intersection after warnings.

Separately, smaller pro-Palestine gatherings formed elsewhere in Manhattan, including at the New York Public Library steps, as Netanyahu’s speech and the celebrity arrests dominated evening coverage. The dual track — walkouts in the General Assembly chamber and mass arrests a few blocks away — gave the day’s UN story an unusually visible entertainment-industry edge.

As of Friday morning Eastern time, neither Sarandon nor Einbinder had issued a detailed post-release statement in the reports cited here. Coverage continues to focus on the arrest count, the organizers’ demand that the United States stop arming Israel, and the optics of Oscar- and Emmy-winning talent joining elected officials in handcuffs as a sitting foreign leader addressed the world body.