Hannah Einbinder has released a statement after being arrested on Thursday during a protest ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s United Nations address.
“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 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,” the actress wrote on her Instagram Story on Thursday. “The US government has the power to bring an end to all of this killing, pillaging, and land theft, yet instead it chooses to welcome the butcher of Gaza with open arms.”
The Hacks actress, Susan Sarandon and Caleb Hearon were among those reportedly taken into custody alongside around 100 protesters before Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Cynthia Nixon and Sarah Sherman were also at the protest, with Einbinder being photographed with the Saturday Night Live star.
Einbinder concluded, “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 [sic]. Let us not mistake the spectacle for the story: genocide is the headline, and it is time for it to end.” In a second Instagram Story, she shared a link to donate to Pal Humanity.
A spokesperson for the New York City Police Department told The Guardian that officers responded to “unscheduled demonstration” reports where an intersection was blocked.
“Members of the NYPD Community Affairs Bureau issued … warnings, advising participants that they should leave,” the spokesperson told the outlet. “They continued to block the intersection. Multiple individuals who didn’t comply were taken into custody.”
The actress-comedian has been a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights. At the end of her acceptance speech for supporting comedy actress at the 2025 Emmys, Einbinder said, “I just wanna say, finally, go birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine.”
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Einbinder’s reps for additional comment, but did not hear back.