{"id":358063,"date":"2026-09-27T12:20:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T12:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358063\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T12:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T12:20:45","slug":"netanyahu-came-to-new-york-new-yorkers-were-ready-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358063\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu Came to New York. New Yorkers Were Ready for Him."},"content":{"rendered":"

Activism<\/a><\/p>\n

\/
\n September 25, 2026<\/p>\n

Scenes from the defiant protest against the genocidal leader\u2019s UN speech.<\/p>\n

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A sign from the anti-Netanyahu protest in New York, on September 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

(Waleed Zein \/ Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

On the morning that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to speak to the United Nations General Assembly, the stretch of First Avenue leading to the glinting green Secretariat building along the East River was quiet. LinkNYC screens along the sidewalk displayed what appeared to be AI-generated images of the Manhattan skyline behind bold text: \u201cIranian delegates, thinking of a shopping spree? Back home, your people can\u2019t even buy groceries.\u201d Smaller print at the bottom of the frame read: \u201cPaid for by the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around noon, the calm was punctured by a disruption that has become somewhat frequent in New York City over the past three years of Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza. A group of seemingly unrelated individuals coalesced in an instant, forming a crowd to block traffic and unveiling identical T-shirts reading: \u201cJews Say Fund People Not Bombs.\u201d Some 400 New Yorkers sat down in the center of the road and unfurled red and white banners reading \u201cEnd the genocide\u201d and \u201cFund healthcare, not warfare.\u201d A few of them raised a massive white kite, a reference to Netanyahu\u2019s threat<\/a> last month to escalate attacks on Gaza over the alleged launching of paper kites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to say no to allowing a platform for someone like Netanyahu in a city that is filled with hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that are against genocide,\u201d said Sumaya Awad, a member of New York City\u2013DSA and director of strategy for the Adalah Justice Project. The action, led by Jewish Voice for Peace, was supported by a coalition of other organizations including the Palestinian Youth Movement, Sunrise Movement, and Rabbis for Ceasefire. Among the crowd of New Yorkers risking arrest were local, state, and federal elected officials and Democratic congressional nominees who have made support for Palestine a centerpiece of their politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deep irony is that the person with the arrest warrant for their crimes against humanity is not the one that will be facing arrest today, but the people who are calling for an end to US taxpayer dollars funding that,\u201d said Darializa Avila Chevalier, the democratic socialist and likely next congressperson for New York\u2019s 13th Congressional District.<\/p>\n

Avila Chevalier was flanked by other Democratic congressional nominees who have pledged to oppose US funding for Israel in office, including New York\u2019s Brad Lander, Colorado\u2019s Melat Kiros, Pennsylvania\u2019s Chris Rabb, and New Jersey\u2019s Dr. Adam Hamawy. \u201cThere are people who are risking their safety who are here,\u201d Rabb said. \u201cWe\u2019re starting to let them know that their power will be reflected in Congress in January.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over 20 New York city and state representatives joined the mass civil disobedience, including State Senator Jabari Brisport, State Assembly members Emily Gallagher and Diana Moreno, and state Senate nominee Aber Kawas, who is set to become the first Palestinian-American to win state office in New York.<\/p>\n

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Also seated among the crowd was a sizable roster of celebrities and other public officials, a sign of the growing numbers of people willing to speak out in an industry that has been hostile to public expressions of support for Palestine. Actors who have become regulars at JVP\u2019s acts of civil disobedience in recent years, like Susan Sarandon, Cynthia Nixon, and Hannah Einbinder, were joined by actor Elliot Page, comedians Caleb Hearon and Mary Beth Barone, Boygenius members Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, and whistleblower and former political prisoner Chelsea Manning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the genocide to stop. We want the killing to stop. We want the United States to stop arming Israel. We want them to stop bombing Lebanon. We want them to stop bombing Iran,\u201d Nixon told me. \u201cWe want Palestinians to be free and to be safe and have hopes and dreams for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within 10 minutes of the protesters\u2019 assembling, NYPD officers on bikes began riding up to the scene, and soon assembled a sizable police presence. (As Politico reported<\/a>, the officers were part of the Strategic Response Group, a notorious NYPD unit that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to disband\u2014a vow he has yet to follow through on.) After around one hour of blockaded traffic, police began arresting over 104 participants, including Avila Chevalier, New York City Council members Alexa Avil\u00e9s, Chi Oss\u00e9, and Emily Gallagher, and celebrities including Manning, Einbinder, and Sarandon. As they were loaded onto NYPD buses, other members of the protest cheered and sang.<\/p>\n

Many of the rank-and-file JVP members among the crowd have been arrested several times over the past few years while participating in the group\u2019s acts of civil disobedience. \u201cIt feels so powerful. We see our numbers continue to grow. Increasing numbers of public figures are willing to take the risk of standing up,\u201d said Danny Kaplowitz, a Jewish New Yorker who works in the labor movement. \u201cWe are not willing to let it go on with our tax dollars funding it and American bombs falling on Gazans without standing up and putting our bodies on the line to make it end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the last three years, JVP members and others in the movement have repeatedly launched disruptive actions and risked arrest to draw attention to the genocide in Gaza. But they\u2019ve seen the media focus on the waning of bloodshed, even as the war continues and public consensus against the genocide and US military aid to Israel hardens. Despite the purported ceasefire in Gaza, last month a UN report concluded<\/a> that Israel has continued to deliberately target and kill Palestinians. Last week, President Trump approved<\/a> $2.8 billion in arms sales to Israel. \u201cThis is just as urgent as it ever was,\u201d said Beth Miller, political director of JVP. \u201cIn this moment, when Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming to our city, we are here to make very clear that we are demanding attention, eyes back on Gaza, and action from our government to end this complicity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presence of a new class of congressional representatives at the action highlights the growing contingent of federal officials willing to take action for Palestine, both in the halls of power and in the streets. \u201cThis past primary cycle was a political earthquake,\u201d said Stefanie Fox, executive director of JVP. \u201cSupport for Palestinian rights and freedom is a litmus test for political and moral consistency.\u201d Several of these candidates got their start organizing for Palestine, like Avila Chevalier, who helped lead the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University. Kiros lost her job after criticizing law firms, including her own, for cracking down on their employees\u2019 pro-Palestine speech. \u201cThese are all folks who won their elections with a platform that centered Palestine as part of their broader progressive politics,\u201d said Miller. \u201cWe have the most pro-Palestine incoming freshman class in Congress in history, and we are going to be able to push and change what is possible next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Progressives like Hamawy explicitly tied their support for Palestine to a broader working-class-centered affordability agenda. \u201cWe\u2019re paying for bombs, we\u2019re paying for war, we\u2019re paying for aircraft carriers and bombers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should be spending it here for healthcare, child care, what the American people need.\u201d Dr. Hamawy called for Medicare for all and a weapons sale ban on Israel during his successful primary campaign to represent New Jersey\u2019s 12th district.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s visit was foregrounded by months of traded jabs between the prime minister and Mamdani, who on the campaign trail pledged to arrest Netanyahu if he entered the city. In July, Mamdani released a video acknowledging that the city lacked the authority to arrest Netanyahu, but calling him a war criminal and the architect of genocide, and urging the federal government to arrest him<\/a>. Still, Mamdani\u2019s political allies including Avila Chevalier were among those arrested, a reflection of the tensions between Mamdani\u2019s executive office and the leftist coalition. \u201cHuman dignity is more important than any political calculus,\u201d said Avila Chevalier when asked about her decision to risk arrest. \u201cIt is our responsibility as folks who have been entrusted by our communities to represent them to fight for human life and human dignity, especially when it is politically costly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the reemergence of right-wing red-baiting and Donald Trump\u2019s use of the chilling National Security Presidential Memorandum\u20137 to criminalize left political organizing, we\u2019re seeing McCarthyism reborn before our eyes. <\/p>\n

This assault on democracy cannot be ignored or wished away. Resisting it requires bravery in the face of threats and repression, a steadfast commitment to the truth, and the unwavering belief that we can\u2014and will\u2014overcome this darkness.<\/p>\n

We must have an independent media that sets the record straight, unearths corruption and abuses of power, and advances a politics of justice and dignity for all if we\u2019re to win this fight.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m writing to you today. This September, The Nation needs to add 100 monthly donors to sustain our progressive journalism. Your contribution makes the next investigative report, the next truth-speaking column, and the next pathbreaking essay all possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ll support our work with a recurring donation today. If you donate $10 or more a month, we\u2019ll send you a brand new \u201cHands Off the Free Press!\u201d sticker to recognise your commitment to our cause. Please, donate today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Onward,<\/p>\n

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation<\/p>\n

Ella Fanger<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Ella Fanger is a writer, researcher, and labor organizer based in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

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