The airman, who filmed the incident and could be heard yelling “Free Palestine,” was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after collapsing to the ground.
The U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in an apparent protest against the Israel-Hamas war has died, according to a U.S. official.
Next of kin notification is continuing, so the Air Force won’t release his name until 24 hours after the final notification is complete.
The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department responded to a call about a person on fire outside the embassy just before 1 p.m. Sunday, and found the flames extinguished by the Secret Service’s uniformed division.
his last words were:
“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. I’m 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… FREE PALESTINE!”
Next of kin notification is continuing, so the Air Force won’t release his name until 24 hours after the final notification is complete.
But he live-streamed it and said his name. He is Aaron Bushnell, a brave man who knew he wouldn’t survive the protest he felt he needed to carry out.
I cried when I watched the video. The man inhaling lungfuls of flame and smoke to chant “Free Palestine!” was painful. I hope his family may find some small comfort in the pride they should feel for his courage.
Comfort? Their loved one is dead. And for what? It would be hypocritical of me to disagree with monks doing it.
All these comments are so okay with it. Like oh well, it was for a good cause! No it fucking ain’t? This is some fucked up glorification of martyrs when in reality, all we accomplished is more pain. His family won’t recover from this, ever.
But hey! All Israel has to do is stop the offensive and all will be dandy! Oh? Ignore those daily non stop dumb fired missiles and if they attack again? Oh well. What’s another 1000 people killed or raped?
I’m sick of people pretending this is an easy fix. As long as hamas exist, Israel won’t stop. Cease fire fixes nothing. But no one here sees past the tip of their nose. Same people were chanting to allow immigrants in because we fucked them up decades ago, because the system can take it! And now will complain about the state of the country, the shortages of food… I have a friend advocating for supplying Africa with means to farm instead of investing into our own farming so we can buy the food from Africa since we can afford it!
I’m just so tired of stupid people. Absolutely zero foresight and jump at first upvoted comment like it’s gospel.
All Israel has to do is stop the offensive and all will be dandy! Oh? Ignore those daily non stop dumb fired missiles and if they attack again? Oh well. What’s another 1000 people killed or raped?
You’re acting like there’s no middle ground between “do nothing” and “murder many thousands of Palestinian women and children (and men who have nothing to do with Hamas).”
Collective punishment is a war crime. Bombing indiscriminately, sniping EMTs and 6-year-old girls, killing people waving white flags with their hands raised just trying to help their families evacuate, telling people to leave their homes with barely any notice and then bombing not only their homes but also the places they told them to evacuate to?
These are not the behaviors of a nation concerned with self-defense. These are the behaviors of a nation trying to eliminate a population.
And all this does is create more extremism. If you managed to survive your family being killed and your home blown up, your entire life being destroyed, when you and your family were just trying to peacefully live your lives, I imagine you’d find it difficult not to wish for the deaths of your oppressors.
I’m sick of people pretending this is an easy fix. As long as hamas exist, Israel won’t stop. Cease fire fixes nothing.
Cease fire stops the bleeding. If we’re being charitable and we decide to take Israel’s obvious bullshit at face value, a ceasefire lets them re-evaluate their targets and lets their intelligence have a chance to actually find Hamas rather than indiscriminately murdering an order of magnitude more civilians than Hamas did. And if we’re not being charitable, a ceasefire makes them stop murdering civilians in revenge for a terrorist attack.
You’re right, I let “better” be the enemy of a perfect solution which likely doesn’t exist in this mess.
Gaza is going to be beyond alienated, if hamas strikes again and they will… The next follow up will be absolute.
Situation is fucked no matter how I look at it. But cease fire would buy Gaza more time, Hamas will strike again and then the wrath is going to be 10x worse. Do you agree or is that too pessimistic?
I appreciate your time to spell it out like that, that did strike home.
Aaron Bushnell is a hero and understood what is at stake. I wish people stop trying to downplay his actions as being mentally ill.
It’s horrible that someone feels this situation is so dire that they need to resort to this.
However, I also don’t know that this will achieve anything any more than it did in Vietnam.
Rest in Power. I pray we can somehow ensure your actions aren’t in vain.
…Well good. Living through stuff like that is awful.
Free Palestine. RIP Aaron Bushnell.
I dislike this. I’ve seen first hand what serious burns do to people, both in the immediate and long term. Imo, this is there should be no speech louder than this, but it just kinda gets an “oh, damn, really? Man. What’s on the next channel?” reaction. I dislike that people resort to this when they’re going to get ignored, and I dislike that it largely is ignored except for a fleeting moment of sensational headlines.
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Are you a troll or something? Would you say the same thing to the Buddhist mini who did the exact same thing for similar reasons? This isn’t tiktok, his family is probably traumatized but this man died for believing in something which is more than most of us can say.
Oh so now are we supposed to praise people who are mentally ill to such an extent that they are setting themselves on fire, just because it’s for a “cause” you support? What’s the next step, praise Hamas suicide bombers? You fucking absolute hypocrite.
EVERYONE STOP SYMPATHIZING WITH THIS MAN HE WAS INSANE AND VILE PERSON he celebrated the death of 3 US service members. he also celebrated the massacre at the party
EVERYONE STOP SYMPATHIZING WITH HIM, because of a few angry bullshit takes he had on the internet. Because doing that removes your eligibility for sympathy.
Him being an idiot doesn’t mean he was a bad person. Does he have some record of doing something actually “VILE”?
doing something actually “VILE”
yes celerating death of American soldiers , he was deranged but in no way someone who deserves empathy
Doesn’t matter to Biden.
I do t even think a general strike would make him stop supporting genocide.
Hed watch America burn if it meant he got to watch Palestinians burn alive as well.
Biden doesn’t represent Dem voters. And it’s going to hurt him in November, maybe even so much that trump wins again.
Why can’t we just stop running these shitty candidates who are a coin flip away from losing to the worst candidate to ever hold the office of president?
How could he genocide himself like that?
Genocide is the destruction of a group of people, not just one. He didn’t genocide himself.
Sorry, it’s used incorrectly so much that I’ve forgotten what it means.
