27-2-2024 (WASHINGTON) Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old airman from San Antonio, who had set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington in protest of civilian deaths in Gaza, tragically succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night, according to Rose M. Riley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Force. The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington confirmed the identity of the man.
Ann Stefanek, another spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Force, had previously confirmed on Sunday night that Mr. Bushnell was an active-duty airman. Disturbingly, Mr. Bushnell had apparently filmed the entire protest on Sunday and livestreamed it on the social media platform Twitch. While the origin of the account that posted the video remains unverified, the footage aligns with the details released by the police.
In the video, a man dressed in fatigues, who identifies himself as Mr. Bushnell, asserts that he is an active-duty Air Force officer. His LinkedIn profile, matching the same name, describes him as an “aspiring software engineer” who has served as an active-duty airman for almost four years.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” the man proclaims in the video, employing the language frequently used by opponents of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza to denounce the conflict. He further states, “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.”
The video depicts Mr. Bushnell standing in front of the gates of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, placing his phone down, and pouring a clear liquid from a metal bottle over himself. He then ignites the liquid, shouting “Free Palestine!” until he collapses to the ground.
