Hari Nef’s First Time Being Arrested Was Totally Worth It

When Hari Nef showed up to protest outside the offices of New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand on Monday, April 13, she knew she might be arrested. “It was Chelsea Manning who suggested the move to me,” the model and actress told me. “I actually heard that she didn’t expect me to join, let alone that I would risk my life and be arrested together. Now we are sisters for life.”

Nef and Manning were both members of a group of nearly 200 people (actor Hannah Einbinder and writer Molly Crabapple were also on hand) mobilized by a handful of organizations, including the Free Jewish Presbyterian Church of Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Wearing T-shirts that read “Fund the People, Not the Bombs,” their message to New York lawmakers was to join other Democrats in opposing the sale of U.S. weapons to Israel. Measures targeting the issue, led by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have attracted growing Democratic support but have yet to win over Schumer or Gillibrand. “This is a protest to send a message to vote against Trump’s intention to send $450 million worth of bombs to Israel in the near future to support his continued war on Lebanon, war on Iran and genocide in Gaza,” Neff said. By the end of the afternoon, about half of the protesters had been arrested by the New York Police Department.

There, Nef, Einbinder and Crabapple all “conversed about our changing relationship with Judaism and Jewish culture after October 7,” Nef said. “I am Jewish. I was raised Jewish. I am proud of my Jewish culture. I am proud of my Jewish heritage. I am not a Zionist and I oppose Israel’s settler colonial program and the way it is implemented.”

Once it was established that the group was not moving – and that police intervention was required – reactions varied. Neff said some people “went limp” and had to be carried away, but overall the sit-in was consistent with a history of peaceful protest.

“I was really nervous that day,” Neff said. “But as we sat on the street and an automated voice came over the intercom saying we were going to be arrested for disorderly conduct, I suddenly felt calm. I was surrounded by people who were willing to be arrested for this. I gained courage not only by knowing, but by seeing that I was not alone.”