Hannah Einbinder said she wanted attention to remain on Israel’s war in Gaza and “crimes that happen every single day” rather than on the spectacle of celebrities being taken into custody.
The Hacks star was among more than 100 protesters detained by the New York police during a sit-in outside the UN headquarters ahead of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the General Assembly on Thursday.
She addressed the arrest in a statement posted to her Instagram Story later in the day, writing: “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 – to the settler attacks, the home demolitions, the bombing of people as they sleep; to the crimes that happen every single day but garner almost no international press coverage.”
Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon, Pose star Indya Moore, comedian Caleb Hearon, whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, New York City Council member Chi Ossé, and state Assembly member Emily Gallagher were also taken into custody.
Pictures showed celebrities like Cynthia Nixon, Elliot Page, and Indya Moore, comedians Sarah Sherman and Mary Beth Barone, and musicians Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker of boygenius, present at the protest as well.
Einbinder turned her criticism towards the US government, saying it had the “power to bring an end to all of this killing, pillaging, and land theft”, but “instead it chooses to welcome the butcher of Gaza with open arms”.
“The fact that the orchestrator of all this bloodshed is roaming freely in our cities is an indictment of both Republicans and Democrats who enable and protect architects of genocide like Netanyahu.”
She ended the statement asking fans to “not mistake the spectacle for the story”.
“Genocide is the headline,” she said in the statement, “and it is time for it to end.”
The protest, organised by Jewish Voice for Peace, took place as Netanyahu arrived to address the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Hundreds of protesters gathered near the UN, with demonstrators blocking First Avenue for about an hour.
The protesters carried signs like “Fund people not bombs”, and chanted “Free, free Palestine” and “Netanyahu, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!”
The police ordered the protesters to disperse before moving in to make arrests.
Ahead of the protest, Einbinder had said, per the Guardian: “We’ll not be silent as our government fully funds a genocide in Palestine. This moment calls on each and every one of us to speak out and demand the US stop funding genocide.”
Inside, dozens of delegates walked out as Netanyahu started his address to the General Assembly, in a visible protest against his country’s war on Gaza. Netanyahu called them “moral cowards” and told any other delegates who objected to his presence to leave as well.
He also addressed New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had called the Israeli leader a war criminal and previously said he would seek to arrest him if he came to the city, although he later acknowledged he did not have the legal authority to carry out an International Criminal Court arrest warrant.
“You tried to stop me from coming here. You tried. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth,” Netanyahu told Mamdani.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November 2024, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe he bore criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
Netanyahu has rejected the allegations and Israel has challenged the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Netanyahu also rejected allegations that Israel was committing a genocide in Gaza, describing its military actions as “the opposite of genocide”.
Amnesty International concluded in December 2024 that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and said the level and speed of destruction in Gaza had “not been seen in any other conflict in the 21st century”.
In March, while accepting the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award in Los Angeles, the star had said she was “horrified by the Israeli government’s massacre of well over 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza”, and “ashamed and infuriated” that it was funded by US taxpayers.
In May she signed an open letter by 350 film professionals condemning what they called the industry’s silence over the killing of Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, whose life and work were at the centre of the Cannes documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk.
They were “ashamed of such passivity”, the signatories wrote, arguing that cinema had a responsibility to amplify the stories of those affected by the war.
In September, Einbinder also endorsed the Film Workers for Palestine pledge, which committed the signatories not to show films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions they deemed were implicated in abuses against Palestinians.
After winning the Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for Hacks, Einbinder ended her acceptance speech with: “Go Birds, f*** ICE and free Palestine.”
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