Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Cohen arrested after shouting at RFK Jr. hearing: 'US bombs Gaza, cuts medicaid'
The heated moment, as seen on video reports across global news channels and social media, showed Cohen interrupting a Capitol Hill hearing where lawmakers were questioning Kennedy.
SHAH ALAM - Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen was arrested on Wednesday after confronting US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the lack of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The heated moment, as seen on video reports across global news channels and social media, showed Cohen interrupting a Capitol Hill hearing where lawmakers were questioning Kennedy.
"Congress sent the bombs that kill children in Gaza and pays it with cuts to Medicaid,” Cohen was reported to have said.
According to reports, he urged senators to press Israel to let food reach "starving kids" as he was led away.
"It got to a point where we had to do something," Cohen said in an interview after his release, calling it "scandalising" that the US approved "US$20 billion worth of bombs" for Israel even as social programmes are squeezed back home.
"The majority of Americans hate what's going on, what our country is doing with our money and in our name," he said.
US public opinion toward Israel has become increasingly unfavourable, especially among Democrats, according to a Pew Research Center Poll last month.
Beyond the spending, Cohen framed the issue as a moral and "spiritual" breach.
"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," he said, pointing to the fact that the United States pours roughly half its discretionary budget into war-related spending.
"If you spent half of that money making lives better around the world, I think there'd be a whole lot less friction."
Invoking a parenting analogy, he added: "You go to a three-year-old who goes around hitting people and you say 'Use your words.' There's issues between countries but you can work them out without killing."
Cohen's arrest highlighted his history as an activist and philanthropist, using his visibility to address global humanitarian issues.
This protest occurred amid heightened Middle East tensions and reflects a corporate dispute over freedom of expression between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever.
Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit against Unilever last November, accusing the company of silencing its support for Palestinians.
The lawsuit alleges Unilever breached a 2022 settlement by preventing Ben & Jerry’s from speaking out on peace and human rights issues.
Since its 1978 founding, Ben & Jerry’s has maintained a social mission, even after Unilever acquired it in 2000.
A conflict arose in 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s announced it would stop selling products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Unilever responded by selling the Israeli business to a local licensee, a decision Ben & Jerry’s sued to block.
The 2022 settlement required Unilever to respect Ben & Jerry’s independent board's authority over its social mission and allocate US$5 million to human rights groups.
The current lawsuit claims Unilever has repeatedly blocked Ben & Jerry’s advocacy for peace, including calls for a ceasefire, safe passage for Palestinian refugees and the cessation of US military aid to Israel.
Cohen’s Capitol Hill protest mirrors the conflict between Ben & Jerry’s activist principles and Unilever’s corporate objectives.
Unilever, which owns numerous global brands, rejected the board’s claims and intends to defend its position vigorously.
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