New York (AFP) – Movie star Susan Sarandon and “Hacks” actress Hannah Einbinder were among people detained by police in New York on Thursday as they moved in to break up a protest against Benjamin Netanyahu.
AFP footage shows NYPD officers cuffing “Thelma & Louise” star Sarandon at the demo in the city as the Israeli prime minister was readying to address the United Nations General Assembly.
The New York Post reported Einbinder had also been marched away from the demonstration organized 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.
Inside the General Assembly, dozens of envoys from across the world walked out as Netanyahu began his speech, where he assailed both enemies and allies that have crossed him in recent months, including Britain and France, which have recently moved to recognize 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.
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.
That’s right. People should protest out of the way and not be an inconvenience or noticed for that matter. History has always favored those that protest alone in their home.
I firmly believe in the sanctity of protests, hence why I added the “devil’s advocate” part.
But I’ve heard that argument a lot. And I don’t have a good answer beyond effectiveness. I certainly don’t want Nazi fucks protesting and blocking traffic when they’re mad.
I saw that and tempered my response accordingly.
But they do and they have a history of doing it with guns and the cops do nothing.
I’m all for polite discourse, but not with regard to a war criminal and fascism. They kill us in the streets, but also expect us to get a permit to protest and the protesters have to be far enough away that they are of no consequence to the thing being protested.