‘Congress pays for bombs that kill children in Gaza,’ Ben & Jerry's co-founder

Ben Cohen, one of the co-founders of American Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, says the US Congress “pays for bombs that kill children in Gaza.”

Cohen said on Wednesday on Capitol Hill that he could not call himself an American without putting his “body on the line,” as he was arrested during a Senate health committee hearing for protesting against US support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

Police dragged Cohen and other protesters out of the room. A Capitol Hill police officer grabbed Cohen by the arm, almost knocking the 74-year-old off balance, and forcibly pulled him out of the Senate hearing. 

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert J Kennedy Jr. looked alarmed during the hearing after shouting erupted shortly after he testified about how the agency’s 2026 budget aligns with President Donald Trump’s agenda.

As Cohen was arrested and led away, a woman asked, “Ben, why are you getting arrested?”

Cohen responded, “Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the US.”

The woman further asked, “Ben, what are you calling for the Congress and senators to do for Gaza?”

“They need to let food into Gaza,” Cohen said as he was led away by a police officer. “They need to let food to starving kids.”

In a post on X on Thursday, Cohen said, “I can’t call myself an American and not put my body on the line.

“For me, our government-funded destruction and slaughter of families living in Gaza is an attack on justice, common decency, and what I had thought was the American way. The American way that Superman used to defend, along with Truth and Justice.”

The Israeli military resumed bombardment of Gaza on March 18, killing thousands of Palestinians, and injuring many others, after it shattered the 2-month ceasefire agreement with Hamas and the deal on the exchange of Israeli captives with Palestinian abductees.

More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, in the brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Israel has blocked the entry of food, water, and humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip since March 2. Food has run out, and Palestinians are being subjected to famine-like conditions.

Hamas said on Wednesday that the occupying Tel Aviv regime has enforced a complete blockade on Gaza for more than seventy consecutive days, restricting all access to essential supplies such as food, medicine, water, and fuel.

The resistance movement condemned Israel for persistently using starvation as a tactic against over two million people in the Gaza Strip, in clear violation of international law.

The closure aligns with an intensifying and brutal military offensive, which together amounts to an act of genocide perpetrated openly and with impunity by Israeli forces before the very eyes of the international community.

Hamas further cautioned that the inaction of the international community, coupled with the blatant failure to address war crimes or prevent extensive famine in Gaza, indicates a worrying disintegration of the global order and the world’s failure to uphold international law and humanitarian values.