We almost titled this news item “What Do Ben of Ben & Jerry’s, the War in Gaza and the Dept. of Health & Human Services Have in Common?”
Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and longtime activist, was arrested Wednesday for interrupting a Senate hearing with his protests about U.S. support for Israel in its war in Gaza.
The incident occurred while Health & Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy was discussing his department’s budget. Cohen stood and shouted, "Congress sent the bombs that kill children in Gaza and pays for it with cuts to Medicaid," according to Associated Press. He was escorted out of the meeting by Capitol Police.
According to NBC News, Cohen was one of seven protesters forcibly removed from the hearing and charged with the misdemeanor offense of Crowding, Obstructing and Incommoding, which prohibits demonstrations inside congressional buildings.
Cohen, who is Jewish, has been critical of Israel building settlements in the West Bank/Occupied Palestinian Territory – as has Jerry Greenfield, the other B&J founder. They supported their former company when it tried to stop selling ice cream to Jewish settlers in the West Bank, although parent Unilever intervened and sold the Israel business to a local distributor.
Cohen and Greenfield founded the Vermont ice cream company in 1978 with a social mission. Unilever agreed to respect that mission when it bought the company in 2000, but the relationship has been strained since the war in Gaza and the election of Donald Trump, against both of which Ben & Jerry’s has taken vocal stands that conflict with Unilever’s business interests.
Coincidentally, Unilever is spinning off its entire global ice cream business, of which Ben & Jerry’s is a part. There have been inquiries by Cohen & Greenfield and others if Unilever would sell Ben & Jerry’s separately, but Unilever’s official responses so far have been no.
Unilever in March apparently fired Ben & Jerry’s CEO over the company’s continued social activism – although Unilever said it actually was giving David Stever a promotion and moving him elsewhere.
Cohen has been arrested for demonstrations before. In 2023, he was briefly jailed outside the Dept. of Justice in Washington, D.C., while protesting the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Cohen set fire to a sign reading "Freedom of the Press," declaring, "Freedom of the press is going up in smoke."
