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US soldier lights himself on fire in DC, in front of Israeli embassy; live streams ‘Free Palestine’ message

February 26, 2024 | | Print Article

Acting on Hamas sympathies, a U.S. service member decried the “ruling class” as he committed an act of self-immolation outside an Israeli Embassy.

Early Sunday afternoon, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) responded to an incident outside the embassy to assist United States Secret Service members after a man had set himself on fire. That man, who had identified himself as U.S. Air Force member Aaron Bushnell, had live streamed his “extreme act of protest” accompanied by a series of anti-Israel commentary.

As seen in the viral video, circulating in censored and uncensored versions, the airman wore his uniform as he approached a gate outside the embassy carrying an open thermos explaining, “I’m an active duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. 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. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” he said before setting the camera down and positioning himself in front of the gate.

Once there, he doused himself in liquid, donned his hat and pulled a lighter from his pocket as he sought to ignite himself, as an authority off camera could be heard asking, “May I help you, sir?”

Setting flame to the puddle at his feet instead of his clothes, the airman ignited and proceeded to shout “Free Palestine!” making a martyr of himself to other Hamas sympathizers.

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Little more than 40 seconds after he was engulfed in the flames, the service member collapsed to the ground where first responders rushed in attempting to extinguish the fire while one individual could be seen holding his gun trained on the airman.

MPD detailed that he was transported “by DC Fire and EMS to a local hospital…in critical condition” and that their Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit had “been requested to scene in reference to a suspicious vehicle” that was later cleared.

A report from Newsweek indicated that the man, whose identity was confirmed by a U.S. Air Force spokesperson, had left a final message on Facebook in addition to his live stream that read, “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

Independent journalist Talia Jane, who had circulated a blurred version of the graphic video, said that she had been in contact with family and friends of the service member and that he had succumbed to his injuries Sunday night.

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The incident followed one from December when a woman with a Palestinian flag had reportedly doused herself in gasoline and set herself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, also in opposition to Israel’s counteroffensive following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

Sympathizers memorialized the airman for his self-immolation while others pegged the man’s actions as idiotic.

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Kevin Haggerty
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