Ben of Ben & Jerry protests US military spending after Jerry exits ice cream giant over Gaza

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s has staged a fresh protest against US military spending, weeks after co-founder Jerry Greenfield departed the ice cream giant following an ongoing dispute with parent company Unilever over its social activism.

Cohen, 74, led what was called a "Department of Pentagon Excess" (DOPE) protest near the US Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, condemning what he described as wasteful defence expenditure.

He further expressed his "huge concerns" over Trump's use of troops on American soil, saying this is "not the America I grew up in"- in reference to the US government's crackdown on immigration.

This comes amid a surge in activity by the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) force, as well as President Donald Trump’s unprecedented federal takeover of the capital’s law enforcement and the and deployment of the National Guard in American cities.

"What I heard was ‘oh that sort of stuff, that’s done in those countries way over there that are run by authoritarian regimes that are monsters’ and now the monster is us," he said.

During his protest against military spending, the Ben & Jerry’s co-founder used a chainsaw on a model of the Pentagon stuffed with fake dollar bills- unveiling his DOPE initiative.  

Cohen called for an audit and reduction of waste within the $886 billion military budget, with the aim of redirecting funds to healthcare and education, saying that cuts to defence could save each US taxpayer $2,000 each year. 

Alongside Cohen, former US Army veterans spoke out against military spending after the Department of Defence’s September rebrand as the 'Department of War'- a change that US media projected would cost billions in updates to emblems, email systems, uniforms and the names of agencies. 

"This war machine that exists inside of our country is not to protect American citizens, but to wage war, colonisation, imperialism, resource theft and to make the rich richer," US Army veteran Josephine Guilbeau said in her speech at the event. 

The Ben & Jerry’s co-founders have also strongly criticised the US's ongoing diplomatic and military support for Israel, particularly during the nearly two-year genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.  

Cohen's protest coincides with Greenfield’s retirement after nearly 50 years, during which he accused Ben & Jerry's UK-based parent company Unilever of stifling the ice cream brand’s social mission, particularly in relation to Gaza. 

In a letter shared on X by Cohen on behalf of Greenfield, he said that the brand’s ability to speak independently on social issues had been lost under Unilever.  

Last year, Ben & Jerry’s Social Mission Board, which operates independently from Unilever, filed a lawsuit against its parent company, accusing it of trying to prevent the ice cream brand from publicly supporting Palestinian victims in Gaza and over the sale of its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The dispute led Unilever to sell the Ben & Jerry’s Israel division to a local operator, prompting the ice cream company to take legal action before the two sides ultimately reached a settlement.