Washington: An active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force who had set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington to protest against Israel’s 'genocide' in Gaza, has died. The 25-year-old airman, Aaron Bushnell, of San Antonio, Texas, died from his injuries, the Metropolitan Police Department said on Monday, Associated Press reported.
Bushnell had walked up to the embassy shortly before 1 p.m. on Sunday and began livestreaming on the video streaming platform Twitch. A disturbing video of his act was widely shared on social media platforms with people reacting to Aaron's extreme form of protest against Israel's aggression in Gaza that has so far claimed 30,000 deaths, including thousands of women and children.
"I am 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, is [his act] not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal," Aaron Bushnell can be heard saying in the video.
He then puts down his phone, goes close to the embassy gate, pours an accelerant over him, and sets himself on fire. Even as massive flames engulf and start devouring him, Aaron can be heard repeatedly shouting 'Free Palestine'. Ironically, one of the security guards present near the site (apparently an Israeli security force personnel guarding the embassy) aims a gun at the burning airman and can be heard telling him to "get on the ground".
Soon other security personnel reach the spot and one of them uses a fire extinguisher and calls others to bring more extinguishers."