Watch: Ben & Jerry’s cofounder arrested in Senate for protesting US military aid to Israel

Ben & Jerry’s cofounder arrested in Senate for protesting US military aid to Israel

Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and a long-time progressive activist, was arrested on Wednesday after disrupting a United States Senate hearing to protest Washington’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

According to the US Capitol Police, Cohen and six others were taken into custody during the protest, which aimed to draw attention to US military aid to Israel and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Following his removal from the hearing, Cohen told AFP he was speaking for millions of Americans outraged by what he described as the "slaughter" in Gaza.

He was part of a group that disrupted a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, interrupting Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he delivered his department's budget proposal, leaving him visibly startled.

During the testimony, he started shouting, “You’re killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here.” Shortly after, Cohen and the others were escorted out by police with their hands restrained behind their backs. “Let food into Gaza,” Cohen added as he was led away, according to videos he later posted online.

I told Congress they're killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they're paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US. This was the authorities' response. pic.twitter.com/uOf7xrzzWM

Ben Cohen (@YoBenCohen) May 14, 2025

Capitol Police later confirmed that Cohen was charged under a District of Columbia statute prohibiting crowding, obstructing, or incommoding—a common citation in civil disobedience cases. Six others face more serious charges, including assaulting a police officer.

Following his release, Cohen told reporters, “It got to a point where we had to do something,” calling it “scandalizing” that the U.S. approved “$20 billion worth of bombs” for Israel while cutting domestic social programs.

“The majority of Americans hate what’s going on, what our country is doing with our money and in our name,” he said, referencing a recent Pew Research Center poll showing growing disapproval of Israel among Americans, particularly Democrats.

He said, “Condoning and being complicit in the slaughter of tens of thousands of people strikes at the core of us as far as human beings and what our country stands for,” criticizing the allocation of nearly half of the U.S. discretionary budget to war-related spending.

A vocal critic of Israeli policy, Cohen last year joined other prominent Jewish figures in signing an open letter opposing the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC. “I understand that I have a higher profile than most people and so I raise my voice, it gets heard. But I need you and others to understand that I speak for millions of people who feel the same way,” he said.

Israel's war in Gaza began after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Bottom of Form