As the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, prepared to deliver his speech at the UN headquarters in New York City on Thursday, hundreds of people blocked traffic on the streets outside, with dozens of people arrested as of early afternoon. The protest outside the UN, one of several this week against the embattled Israeli leader, drew hundreds of Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese New Yorkers, among others, as well as several elected officials and candidates in the November election, and a number of celebrities. Many wore shirts reading “Fund people not bombs” and chanted slogans like “Let Gaza live” and “the whole world is watching.” Official vehicles heading to the UN were diverted as protesters sat down in the middle of the street for more than an hour, unfurling banners that called to “end the genocide” and flying a kite reading “Free Palestine” – a reference to Israel’s threat earlier this year that it would target Palestinian children flying kites, organizers said.
Another protest, planned for later on Thursday afternoon is also expected to draw large crowds to midtown Manhattan, before a planned march toward the UN. On Wednesday, members of the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter rallied at the city’s John F Kennedy international airport in protest of weapons and explosive materials destined for the Israeli military being flown out of the airport on commercial aircraft. Opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza has prompted a seismic shift in US public opinion of Israel, a change that has begun to trickle into US elections, with scores of leftist candidates winning primaries earlier this year while openly calling to end US aid to Israel.
While reflexive support for Israel was once a prerequisite for anyone running for office, in some districts it has increasingly become a liability. Many of the openly pro-Palestinian candidates who seized primary wins earlier this year were also at Thursday’s protest, including New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brad Lander, Pennsylvania’s Chris Rabb, New Jersey’s Adam Hamawy, and Colorado’s Melat Kiros. We shouldn’t have to do that to stop a genocide.
It’s ridiculous that we have to come out on the streets and protest when we have the body that’s supposed to be upholding international law right there in front of us, inviting Netanyahu as a guest rather than trying him as a war criminal in The Hague.” The NYPD did not immediately confirm the number of arrests but organizers estimate it was more than 100. The office of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The large protests presented a challenge to Mamdani, who at one point pledged to arrest Netanyahu should he come to town and who has long said his administration supports New Yorkers’ right to protest.
Mamdani has repeatedly called Netanyahu a “war criminal” who is “not welcome in New York City” but admitted earlier this year that he does not have the legal authority to order his arrest, calling instead on the federal government to do so. At a press conference earlier this week, Mamdani said that he had no plans to attend any protests outside the UN but made clear that New Yorkers were free to do so.
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