Ben Cohen among seven people arrested after interrupting testimony by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.The cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and six other people have been arrested after disrupting a United States Senate hearing to protest Washington’s support for Israel’s war 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.
The seven were arrested on charges of “crowding, obstructing or incommoding”, assault of a police officer or resisting arrest, US Capitol Police said in a statement.
Police said Cohen was only charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding, a misdemeanor punishable by 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.
Cohen and his Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Jerry Greenfield are well known for their progressive activism, including opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Advertisement
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 …
