The 25-year-old US soldier, who was based in San Antonio, Texas, had been in the Air Force since 2020, working as a client systems technician in IT management and as a DevOps engineer.
On Sunday, he walked up to the gate outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. As he approached the gate he said “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 am about to engage in extreme act of protest.”
“But, compared to what the people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of the Colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided, would be “normal".”
The zealot then walked up into the gate, doused himself in a flammable liquid and set himself on fire. While burning, he repeatedly screamed free Palestine, free Palestine, before succumbing to the flames. He passed away later from his self-induced injuries.
Bushnell was both passionate and misguided. In reality, his actions will change nothing. The loss of his life though tragic, will only penalize his family and those that knew him and cared for him.