Capitol Police on Wednesday appeared to remove Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions’ (HELP) hearing with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Anti-Israel protesters disrupted Kennedy’s opening statement before the committee, in which footage showed Cohen standing up and being removed by police. Cohen spoke at a pro-Palestinian press conference with Democrat Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib outside of the U.S. Capitol ahead of the hearing.
“You’re killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here,” Cohen said, according to an X post that he reposted himself.
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As he shouted, an officer grabbed him by the arm and forced him out of the room. Cohen reposted several X posts claiming that he was among the protesters removed.
More footage taken by NBC News’ Frank Thorp showed two officers escorting Cohen out of the room. Police reportedly arrested seven people for resisting arrest and for the assault of a police officer, charging them with 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding.
At the press conference, Cohen said that Israel is “literally starving” people in Gaza “to death” by preventing them from accessing food, water and medicine.
“We will not look away, we will not be silenced, we will do everything we can to get our government to stop being complicit in starving little kids to death,” Cohen said during the press conference.
Cohen reportedly introduced Tlaib at the press conference, where she then stated that she wants “aid and food” to enter Gaza, according to The Epoch Times’ Nathan Worcester.
The U.S. Capitol Police did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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