Ben & Jerry’s cofounder arrested at US Senate after protesting war in Gaza

Ben Cohen among 7 radical arrested aft interrupting grounds by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

The cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s crystal pick and six different radical person been arrested aft disrupting a United States Senate proceeding to protestation Washington’s enactment for Israel’s warfare successful Gaza.

The arrests connected Wednesday came arsenic US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr was giving grounds to lawmakers connected his shake-up of national wellness agencies.

“Congress kills mediocre kids successful Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids disconnected Medicaid successful the US,” Cohen said arsenic helium was escorted distant by police.

The 7 were arrested connected charges of “crowding, obstructing oregon incommoding”, battle of a constabulary serviceman oregon resisting arrest, US Capitol Police said successful a statement.

Cohen was lone charged with crowding, obstructing and incommoding, according to Capitol Police.

Cohen and his Ben & Jerry’s cofounder Jerry Greenfield are good known for their progressive activism, including absorption to Israel’s actions successful Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

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

“Right now, what it means to beryllium American is that we are the world’s largest arms exporter, we person the largest subject successful the world, we enactment the slaughter of radical successful Gaza,” Cohen said.

“If idiosyncratic protests the slaughter of radical successful Gaza, we apprehension them. What does our state basal for?”

In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would nary longer let its Israeli licensee to merchantability its crystal pick successful the West Bank and Gaza, saying that doing truthful would beryllium “inconsistent with our values”.

A US justice the pursuing twelvemonth rejected Ben & Jerry’s bid for an injunction to artifact the income aft uncovering that the institution had failed to amusement that it would endure irreparable harm.

Ben & Jerry’s, which was founded successful 1978 successful the US authorities of Vermont, and its genitor company, Unilever, aboriginal settled their ineligible quality connected undisclosed terms.

In March, Ben & Jerry’s filed a suit accusing Unilever of firing main enforcement David Stever implicit his enactment for the brand’s “social mission”.

More than 51,000 radical person been killed successful Gaza since Israel launched its war, pursuing Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks connected the country.