Washington: A U.S. military service member who set himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C., while protesting against Israeli atrocities in Gaza has now passed away.
According to details, the U.S. airman, Aaron Bushnell, while raising his voice against the genocide of Palestinians by Israel outside the Israeli embassy suddenly set himself on fire by pouring petrol over himself.
Eyewitnesses reported that a person dressed in military attire outside the Israeli embassy was chanting “Free Palestine” when suddenly he poured petrol over himself and set himself on fire.
The airman had been admitted to the hospital in critical condition on Sunday after U.S. Secret Service officers extinguished the flames, but eventually, he lost his life after succumbing to burns all over his body. Officer Lee Lepe, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department, verified the airman’s demise,
Aaron Bushnell donned in military attire, streamed the incident live over the internet. Prior to immolating himself, he purportedly declared, “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.” before drenching himself in a clear liquid and igniting, vocalizing, “Free Palestine.” The video was promptly deleted from Facebook by authorities.
Aaron had also sent a message to the media outlets before the incident. “Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people,” he wrote.
On Sunday Aaron also wrote on his Facebook account stating: “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.”
The backdrop to this harrowing act lies in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have destroyed most of the coastal enclave, resulting in the confirmed deaths of over 30,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women since October 7th.
Israel’s military operations in Gaza have triggered vehement global condemnation, with protests escalating outside Israeli embassies worldwide. In a similar demonstration last December, a woman protesting against the war resorted to self-immolation outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta.
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