‘Stop killing children’: protests as Netanyahu arrives for UN address | Benjamin Netanyahu

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in New York on Thursday ahead of his address to the United Nations general assembly, scheduled for Friday morning, protesters opposed to the war in Gaza gathered near UN headquarters.

One group of people who waved Israeli flags and campaign banners described themselves as an informal coalition of Jewish and Israeli-led organizations taking an anti-occupation and anti-war stance in relation to the Palestinian territories. They assembled close to the UN building in Manhattan to protest against Netanyahu’s arrival after he flew in from Israel overnight.

As it began to drizzle, a speaker addressed the crowd of about 50 people, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and telling those gathered that “Netanyahu will lie to the world” on Friday, just “like he lies to us Israelis.”

“Stop killing children, end the war, sign the deal, bring the hostages home,” the speaker continued. “There is no military solution.”

More protests are planned for Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday.

People carried signs reading “bring the hostages home” and “end the war,” and when Netanyahu’s name was mentioned in a speech, the crowd chanted “shame, shame, shame.”

Phylisa Wisdom, the executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda, one of the groups organizing the protest, said the coalition was coming together to call on Netanyahu to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza, and bring out the remaining Israeli hostages taken in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October last year.

“There is no solution but a diplomatic solution, and we’re making sure that this message cuts through and gets to Netanyahu, to our government, and to all allies of peace who care about Israeli and Palestinian lives,” Wisdom said. She added that the groups were also planning on protesting outside Netanyahu’s hotel.

Although attention has turned this week to Israel’s military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon, with international leaders calling on Israel to negotiate a ceasefire on both fronts, protests against Netanyahu have focused mainly on the war in Gaza that has gone on for almost a year.

Among those in the crowd was Zahiro Shahar Mor, whose 79-year-old uncle was kidnapped from Israel by militants on 7 October and held hostage in Gaza until August, when his body was recovered by the Israeli military.

Shahar Mor told the Guardian that he flew to New York from Israel on Tuesday to coincide with Netanyahu’s visit, and expressed his frustration that Netanyahu was in New York, instead of in Israel, where Shahar Mor said “his responsibility actually lies.”

“I think it’s ludicrous that the world as a whole is applauding and accepting this,” Shahar Mor said, referring to Netanyahu’s address to the UN.

Shahar Mor said he believed the conflict was being drawn out because Netanyahu’s government just “want to keep power”, adding that Netanyahu is “waging psychological war against” him and the other hostages’ families, as well as those in Gaza.

Shahar Mor said he wished America would put more pressure on Netanyahu.

“First and foremost, I wouldn’t allow him to come to the US at all,” he said.

“The situation in Israel is messed up, it’s beyond repair without external help, (and) we need your help,” he said, referring to the US and the international community.

Another person in the crowd on Thursday was the New York-based Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum.

“It’s outrageous that Netanyahu is here on this world stage,” Kleinbaum said. “He has been an obstacle to ending this war, bringing the hostages home.”

“This isn’t a sports game,” Kleinbaum added. “There isn’t a winner and a loser, and people who imagine there’s going to be one side wins if the other side loses… that’s not where I stand at all. “I believe in a shared future, and I want to protest the dehumanization of either side, and both people have terrible leaders.”

An hour or so later, just a few blocks away, a group of more than 300 pro-Palestinian protesters, many holding Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs, gathered outside the New York public library on Fifth Avenue before heading uptown to the imposing UN building, also in protest against Netanyahu’s visit.

People held signs reading “free Palestine,” and signs accusing the Israeli prime minister of being a criminal war, and asking the US to end military aid to Israel.

Myra Shallan, 35, said she wanted Netanyahu to know how many people feel about his visit.

“What I would love to come across is just how displeased we are,” Shallan said.

Other protest signs read “end all US aid to Israel” and “stop the war machine”, “bring the hostages home” and “send Netanyahu to The Hague”.

That last slogan refers to the international criminal court (ICC), based in the Netherlands. In May, the ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, requested the court issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

A panel of judges is still considering the request which, if granted, would force countries that are signatories to the ICC to detain Netanyahu if he were to visit. The US, however, is not a signatory to the ICC and is not bound by its decisions.

Israel last week challenged Khan’s request.