Protesters waved Palestinian flags, wore keffiyeh scarves and carried banners reading “Free Palestine,” “stop starving Gaza” and “Arms embargo now,” video showed.
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They gathered in Times Square, across town from the United Nations building, before marching to the U.N.
“Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” they chanted.
In his Friday U.N. address, Netanyahu denounced Western countries for embracing Palestinian statehood. Many delegates exited the hall when he took stage.
Images of starving Palestinians have sparked outrage against Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people and internally displaced Gaza’s entire population. Multiple rights experts say it amounts to genocide.
Israel rejects that and calls its actions self-defense after the October 2023 attack led by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1,200 people and in which more than 250 were taken hostage.
Israel’s conduct in Gaza has also been a topic in New York City’s mayoral race. Pro-Palestinian mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani denounced Netanyahu’s visit while Eric Adams, the current mayor, said he was “proud to meet” Netanyahu.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
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Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for Reuters in Washington DC, who primarily covers US politics and national affairs in his current role. His past breaking news coverage has spanned across a range of topics like the Black Lives Matter movement; the US elections; the 2021 Capitol riots and their follow up probes; the Brexit deal; US-China trade tensions; the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan; the COVID-19 pandemic; and a 2019 Supreme Court verdict on a religious dispute site in his native India.