More than 30 people, including actors and politicians, were arrested in a protest in front of the United Nations against the war on Gaza

The American authorities arrested more than 30 people, including actors and politicians.

About 200 people gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in a protest organized by the “Jewish Voice for Peace” organization, raising slogans including “Fund the people, not the bombs,” “No to wars,” and “Free Palestine,” in objection to the Israeli war on Gaza and American support for Israel.

Academy Award-winning American actress Susan Sarandon and Emmy Award-winning actress Hannah Einbinder, along with Democratic congressional candidate Daria Lisa Avila Chevalier and New York City Council member Chi Osei, were among those arrested.

The protesters set up a sit-in in the street, disrupting traffic. The police issued orders to them via loudspeakers to leave the place, while some participants moved to the sidewalks, but the main group remained in the street and continued chanting anti-Netanyahu slogans.

The police surrounded the protesters, before they began to take them away one by one. According to Reuters, security personnel tied the hands of a number of protesters behind their backs with plastic ties and took them to police buses, while the protesters continued chanting even during the arrests, chanting: “Go to hell, Netanyahu.”

Manijeh Mouradian, a 50-year-old university professor, said that what is happening in Gaza represents a reason for her to participate in the protest, considering that the use of American funds to support Israel makes the protest a responsibility for the participants, adding that Netanyahu “does not have the right to use the United Nations platform” to justify what she described as “these atrocities.”

The protest came as Netanyahu was preparing to deliver his speech before the General Assembly, where he defended Israel's policies and military movements in the region, at a time when dozens of delegations left the General Assembly hall as his speech began, in another protest scene that accompanied his attendance at the United Nations.

The street scenes and the General Assembly Hall showed, each in its own way, the extent of the objection surrounding Netanyahu's visit to New York. Outside, he faced chants demanding that he leave and denouncing the war on Gaza, while the hall witnessed the withdrawal of delegations as he began his speech.

This comes in light of continued international criticism of Israel due to the Gaza war, while Netanyahu seeks to defend his government’s policies before the General Assembly in the face of what he described as increasing international pressure and isolation.