Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, joined six others who were arrested after disrupting a U.S. Senate hearing to protest America’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. The protest occurred during testimony by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was addressing changes to federal health agencies.
As police escorted Cohen out of the Capitol, he said, “Congress kills poor children in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off of Medicaid in the US.” U.S. Capitol Police said the group faced charges for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding.” Some also faced charges for assaulting an officer or resisting arrest.
Cohen and his co-founder Jerry Greenfield have a long history of activism. Both have strongly criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Earlier this month, Cohen spoke with Tucker Carlson in an interview where he shared more of his views. Cohen, who is Jewish, called the U.S.-Israel relationship “strange” and accused the U.S. of supplying weapons for “its genocide.”
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He added, “Today being American means we are the world’s largest arms merchant, we have the world’s largest military, and we fund the killing of people in Gaza. We arrest anyone who speaks out against the killing.What about our nation?”
In 2021, Ben & Jerry announced it would stop allowing its Israeli licensee to sell ice cream in Gaza and the West Bank, saying those sales clashed with company values. A U.S. judge later denied their request to block the sales, saying the company failed to show it would face serious harm. Ben & Jerry’s later settled the matter with Unilever, its parent company, though details weren’t made public.
In March, the company sued Unilever, claiming it fired CEO David Stever because he supported the brand’s social mission.
Since Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023, more than 51,000 people have died.
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