Hacks star Hannah Einbinder and Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon were detained during a pro-Palestine protest outside the United Nations in New York as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly.
The actresses joined demonstrators on Thursday in a mass sit-in opposing Netanyahu's visit and Israel's continuing military operations in Gaza.
More than 100 people were arrested during the demonstration, according to organisers, Jewish Voice for Peace, although the New York Police Department has not specifically confirmed the arrests of Einbinder and Sarandon.
Photographs showed Sarandon, 79, being detained by police, while footage shared on social media showed Einbinder, 31, with her hands restrained behind her back as officers escorted her away.
“Netanyahu out of New York,” Einbinder shouted as she was being taken away.
Einbinder later addressed her detention on Instagram, calling for attention to remain on events in the Middle East rather than the celebrities involved in the demonstration.
“If the pictures of my friends and me getting arrested in protest of Netanyahu’s shameful visit to New York draw attention to anything, let it be to the devastating genocidal war Israel is waging against the people of Palestine and southern Lebanon,” she wrote.
“Let us not mistake the spectacle for the story: genocide is the headline, and it is time for it to end.” She then shared a link to donate to Pal Humanity, a medical and humanitarian organisation founded in Gaza by two Palestinian physician sisters to provide urgent healthcare and vital aid to their community.
Einbinder, who is Jewish, has repeatedly spoken publicly in support of Palestinians. While accepting the Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Hacks last year, she used her speech to criticise US immigration enforcement and voice her support for a free Palestine.
Sarandon has also been a prominent supporter of Palestinians and has attended demonstrations since the war in Gaza began.
At the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, the actress said she continued to face professional repercussions because of her political views.
“I’ve still had movies taken away recently, because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me,” she said while promoting her film The Echo Chamber.
Other well-known figures at Thursday's demonstration included actors Cynthia Nixon, Elliot Page and Indya Moore, comedians Sarah Sherman, Mary Beth Barone and Caleb Hearon, and musicians Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker.
Nixon and Page attended the protest, but were not detained, according to their representatives.
Demonstrators carried signs including “Free Palestine”, “Stop Arming Israel” and “Fund People Not Bombs”, while protesters chanted “Free Palestine” and “Netanyahu, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide”.
The demonstration coincided with Netanyahu's address to the UN General Assembly, where dozens of delegates walked out as the Israeli leader took to the podium.
Besides the protests held outside the UN headquarters, a billboard beneath a nearby bridge described Netanyahu as a “war criminal”, referring to an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court.
During his speech, Netanyahu rejected allegations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, describing them as “the biggest lie of the century”, and criticised demonstrators opposed to his government as “phoney human rights protesters”.
Gaza's Health Ministry says 73,928 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since October 7, 2023, following from a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people.
