Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s Senate hearing on Wednesday was immediately thrown into chaos when several protesters, including a co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, began screaming, causing them to be removed.
“You’re killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here,” Ben Cohen appeared to shout during the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing before being escorted out by U.S. Capitol Police officers.
Kennedy looked visibly shaken at the first protester’s initial shout, which caused heads to turn and police officers to spring into action.
Prior to the protest, Cohen participated in an “Americans Against Genocide” press conference alongside other speakers such as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), during which they called on the United States to pressure Israel into lifting its blockade of supplies and food to the people in Gaza.
“We are expected to be good Americans and look the other way as Israel prevents food, water, and medicine from reaching the remaining people of Gaza,” Cohen said at the press conference. “Israel is literally starving them to death. … 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.”
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Most pro-Israel advocates have rejected the characterization of Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide.
The hearing was centered on the HHS’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal.
