Investigators have revealed that the man who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy left a final Facebook post and a video explaining his motivations. Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire and died in front of the Washington DC building because of US support for Israel after Hamas brutally attacked the country on October 7, sparking an intense war in Gaza.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide”
Bushnell wrote a Facebook post earlier that day, which has now been removed. He wrote: “Many of us enjoy asking ourselves, ‘What would I do if I were alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? ‘What would I do if my country committed genocide?’ The answer is: you are doing it. Right now.
Bushnell then posted another video before going out to perform the spectacle, explaining what he was going to do and why.
“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,” he says.
“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 colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
He began livestreaming his act of self-immolation on Twitch, a popular video streaming platform. While the video has been removed from Twitch, police have revealed its contents. The footage shows him approaching the Israeli embassy, dousing himself in a liquid, starting a fire, and repeatedly screaming ‘Free Palestine’ until he died. The MPD quickly surrounded him, with one officer pointing a gun at Bushnell and others extinguishing the flames.
Aaron Bushnell was only 25 years old
Aaron Bushnell was only 25 years old and from San Antonio, Texas. This occurred just before 1 p.m. on Sunday, as he walked up to the Embassy.
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington confirmed that Bushnell died on Sunday.
This occurred while Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was seeking cabinet approval for a military operation in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza.
The discussions about a possible cease-fire are still ongoing. Israel’s military efforts in Gaza have drawn criticism, including accusations of genocide against Palestinians.
However, Israel vigorously denies such allegations and claims to be following international law during the conflict with Hamas.
South Africa filed a case with the UN court accusing Israel of ‘genocide,’ and the court ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent death, destruction, and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but did not order an end to the fighting or call Israel’s actions genocidal.
According to the Atlanta Fire Department, in December, a person set themselves on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, fueling the flames with gasoline. A Palestinian flag was found at the scene, indicating that this was a serious political protest.
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington stated that their officers had rushed to the scene outside the Israeli Embassy to help US Secret Service officers and that their bomb squad had been summoned to check out a suspicious car. They found no dangerous materials, the police reported.