Mamdani Allies Arrested At Anti-netanyahu Protests Outside United Nations

NEW YORK — Roughly 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators — including several politicians close to Mayor Zohran Mamdani — were arrested in Manhattan this afternoon while protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance at the United Nations.

Among those detained were Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th congressional district, and City Council members Chi Ossé and Alexa Avilés. The protests, which also included appearances from actors Hannah Einbinder and Susan Sarandon, focused on demands for a cessation of U.S. military aid to Israel amid the country’s three-year long military response to the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks.

Surrounding the protesters were hundreds of NYPD officers, including at least a dozen members of the department’s Strategic Response Group, a specialized unit deployed for counterterrorism responses and large-scale protests.

Before arrests were made, members of the department’s community affairs office made demonstrators aware of impending arrests and gave them the opportunity to disperse, an NYPD spokesperson said.

“If there are a large number of arrests, it’s usually the SRG doing it,” the spokesperson said. “These people were blocking the street, and the NYPD warned them, and the community affairs officers went person by person to confirm that they wanted to get arrested.”

As a mayoral candidate last year, Mamdani vowed to disband the SRG, citing concerns about the unit’s heavy-handed clashes with protestors. But as mayor, he has backed off that pledge. On Thursday, the unit came out in force — one of its most high-profile responses to political demonstrations under Mamdani — with several SRG officers seen zip-tying protestors and loading them into NYPD buses after they blocked traffic along First Avenue in Midtown.

And while many Mamdani allies came out for the demonstration, there was one very notable absence: Mamdani himself.

The mayor — who has labeled Netanyahu a “war criminal” and accused Israel of orchestrating a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza — announced last week that he would skip any U.N.-related protests, saying he would focus on public safety and “the very local concerns New Yorkers have about traffic and their ability to get from point A to point B” during the U.N. General Assembly.

Mamdani, though, was still very much on Netanyahu’s mind. The Israeli leader delivered a defiant speech to the U.N. General Assembly as the protests raged outside.

“To all those that are spreading these lies about my country and about our brave soldiers, whether they sit in this hall or in the office of the antisemitic mayor of New York, I say this: Shame on you. Shame on you for distorting the facts,” said Netanyahu, who also tore into Mamdani’s wife, First Lady Rama Duwaji, for liking social media posts that celebrated Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack.

In response, Mamdani issued a statement accusing Netanyahu of repeating “baseless lies meant to sanitize his genocide of Palestinians.”

“Yet no lie can change the fact that he remains the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Mamdani said.

As recently as this summer, Mamdani said he was looking into ordering the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu on the ICC warrant issued over Israel’s war in Gaza, which has left more than 73,000 Palestinians dead. However, Mamdani eventually acknowledged he doesn’t have authority to effect such an arrest and has since toned down some of his criticisms of Netanyahu amid accusations that his rhetoric is contributing to antisemitism in New York.

Former City Comptroller Brad Lander, a Mamdani ally and the Democratic nominee for New York’s 10th congressional district, attended Thursday’s protest. But he left before any arrests were made and headed to a separate anti-Netanyahu protest organized by rabbis and leaders of Jewish organizations.

When asked about the mayor’s decision to skip the demonstrations, Lander echoed Mamdani’s own sentiments.

“The mayor has made very clear his point of view on Netanyahu,” Lander told POLITICO. “During the week of the U.N. General Assembly, the mayor’s responsibility is to make sure this is a city that can welcome the whole world safely, and I think he is wise to focus on that.”

The roughly 300 protestors — around 200 of whom dispersed before arrests were made — were organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Democratic Socialists of America, among other organizations.

The same coalition of groups was set to host a larger protest in the afternoon starting at Bryant Park. Unlike the earlier protest, that one — which expects to see turnout in the thousands — was permitted by the NYPD, according to Palestinian Youth Movement spokeswoman Nas Issa. At least 55 permits had been issued for demonstrations related to the U.N. General Assembly as of earlier this week.