On February 25, 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, who served in the US Air Force, decided to set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC.
– I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers it’s not extreme at all.
– It’s Aaron Bushnell, I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide, he announced before pouring a flammable liquid over himself and setting himself on fire.
https://twitter.com/Lowkey0nline/status/1762018555900359005?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1762018555900359005%7Ctwgr%5Ee8a461ade6bf39d6e3b48aa347be7f76f288a901%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnyadagbladet.se%2Futrikes%2Fsoldatens-protest-mot-folkmordet-i-gaza-sjalvbranning-vid-israels-ambassad%2F
He was taken to the hospital, but died from his injuries.
Notably, the video shows a police officer or security guard pointing his gun at the burning Bushnell instead of trying to extinguish the fire.
The U.S. media has been silent on the case, and several major newspapers have chosen to hide the motive for the suicide, although in some cases the event itself has been reported. TIME is careful to point out, however, that it is against the internal policy of the armed forces to set oneself on fire in protest.
He’s pointing a gun at a man fully engulfed in flames. https://t.co/RNMSGHkEfh pic.twitter.com/iuQQf5xp45
— Matt Lieb?? (@mattlieb) February 26, 2024
It should also be noted that Bushnell is not the first American to self-immolate in protest of the invasion of Gaza and U.S. support for it. A similar event took place in Atlanta in early December, also involving self-immolation.
“Hi, my name is Aaron Bushnell, I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide,’’ the young man then says matter-of-factly in the footage as he walks toward his final destination outside the embassy Sunday afternoon.
“I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers it’s not extreme at all.