“Congress Kills Poor Kids in Gaza”: Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Arrested at US Senate After Protesting Israel’s Genocide

Washington (Quds News Network)- The co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and six other anti-genocide protestors were arrested after interrupting a US Senate hearing to protest Washington’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The arrests of Ben Cohen and the other protestors on Wednesday came as US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr was giving testimony to lawmakers on his shake-up of federal health agencies.

“Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the US,” Cohen said as he was escorted away by police.

Officers physically removed Cohen and the six other a anti-genocide protesters, and charged them with crowding, obstructing and incommoding — a misdemeanor offense. All but Cohen also faced charges of resisting arrest and assault on a police office, Capitol Police said.

“Congress and the senators need to ease the siege,” Cohen said. “They need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids.”
Cohen has since been released from police custody.

Ben from Ben & Jerry’s confronts RFK Jr. and Congress:
“YOU’RE KILLING POOR KIDS IN GAZA
AND PAYING FOR IT BY CUTTING MEDICAID
FOR KIDS HERE.”
While Congress writes checks for bombs, children are starving. pic.twitter.com/C6is7zQ8UZ

— CODEPINK (@codepink) May 14, 2025

Cohen and his Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield are well known for their progressive activism, including opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza and policies in the occupied West Bank.

In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this month, Cohen, who is Jewish, said the US had a “strange relationship” with Israel that involved Washington “supplying weapons for its genocide”.

“Right now, what it means to be American is that we are the world’s largest arms exporter, we have the largest military in the world, we support the slaughter of people in Gaza,” Cohen said.

“If somebody protests the slaughter of people in Gaza, we arrest them. What does our country stand for?”

Ben & Jerry’s leadership has been critical of the Israeli occupation over the years. In 2021, the company said it would stop selling its ice cream in the occupied territories.

“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the company said in a statement at the time.