Pro-Gazan protest: known US ice cream maker gets removed from Senate

Washington DC: Co-founder of the renowned ice cream brand Ben & Jerry, Ben Cohen, was removed from the US Senate on Wednesday over his protest against America’s involvement in the genocide in Gaza by Israel. On the day, Cohen, among others, shouted "Congress pays for bombs to kill children in Gaza", while Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. was delivering a testimony about his department’s budget proposal. Legislators in the US were moving to slash Medicaid, the health insurance program for low‑income families, Agence France-Presse reported.

As the handcuffed 74-year-old was being led away by the Capitol Police, he urged senators to force Israel to let food supplies reach starving kids in Gaza.

After his release, Cohen told AFP that he was speaking for millions of Americans outraged by the slaughter in Gaza.

He wrote on X, “I told Congress they're killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they're paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US.”

I told Congress they're killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they're paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US. This was the authorities' response. pic.twitter.com/uOf7xrzzWM

— Ben Cohen (@YoBenCohen) May 14, 2025

In an interview after his release, Cohan said that things reached a point where “we” had to do something. He called the US approval of $20 billion worth of bombs delivery to Israel “scandalizing”, noting that social programmes inside US are being squeezed. He said that most Americans hate what the country's administration is doing with people’s money and in their name. He added that more than an expenditure, it is an issue of moral and “spiritual breach.

He asserted that 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,” AFP quoted. He pointed out that the US is spending roughly half of its budget on war-related matters.

"If you spent half of that money making lives better around the world, I think there'd be a whole lot less friction," he said. He added that there could be issues between countries, but they should be sorted out through dialogue.

A poll by the Pew Research Center last month found that US public opinion toward Israel has become increasingly unfavorable.

A UN-backed food security monitor warned this week that Gaza is at critical risk of famine as the entire remaining population is facing a food crisis for more than two months of Israeli aid blockade, AFP reports.