(NewsWorthy.news) – A United States Air Force member self-immolated in front of the Washington D. C. Israeli embassy as he yelled “Free Palestine!” on February 25. Aaron Bushnell, 25, later died in hospital from his injuries after filming his act of protest.
In the Twitch broadcast of the incident at 1 P.M., the officer said that his act was extreme but not as extreme as the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. In the censored video posted on X, Bushnell doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire before screaming and falling to the ground. Police and first responders could be heard telling him to get down and calling for fire extinguishers.
The senior airman worked with the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron as a cyberdefense operations specialist. Stationed at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, Bushnell had served on active duty since 2020, according to a statement by the Air Force the following night. It is currently unknown who filmed the incident and the video, which was the only one posted to the Twitch account with a Palestinian flag as its header image. The video was soon removed for violating the platform’s guidelines.
Activists in the past have committed the extreme act in the name of various causes such as Arab nationalism, environmentalism and protests against the Vietnam War. A Pro-Palestinian protester self-immolated in December outside the Israeli embassy in Atlanta and ended up in critical condition. Several friends and Air Force colleagues commented that Bushnell was a kind and principled man who worked hard to support the homeless in San Antonio in accordance with his “anarchist” principles.
Tel-Aviv is seeing mounting protests against Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime and its handling of the conflict. One freed Israeli hostage was hit by a water cannon as the police cracked down on the protesters calling for elections and negotiations to free the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. Pro-Palestine protests are becoming a frequent occurrence across the US and activists even joined New York City’s Lunar New Year Parade. Israel is facing mounting pressure from global leaders warning the country of how devastating its planned ground offensive in the Southern Gaza city of Rafah will be if it goes ahead.
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