Police have confirmed the death of an active-duty airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in a protest against the “genocide” in Gaza.
Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old based in San Antonio, Texas, walked up to the embassy building on Sunday afternoon in combat uniform, carrying a flask of inflammable liquid and a selfie stick with which he livestreamed his actions.
“My name is Aaron Bushnell,” he said. “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, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”
After dousing himself in the liquid, he at first struggled to set alight to himself, screaming “Free Palestine!” as he was engulfed in flames.
Police took at least a minute to extinguish the flames before Bushnell was rushed to hospital. A police spokesman confirmed his death.
