Airman's final Facebook post before setting himself on fire at Israeli embassy
Investigators have revealed that the man who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy left a last Facebook post and a video describing his motives.
In a video and various posts, Aaron Bushnell cited US support for Israel as the reason he set himself on fire and died in front of the Washington DC building. The US has been criticised for their support for Israel after Hamas brutally attacked the country on October 7, prompting an intense war in Gaza which has so far killed over 28,000 Palestinians (according to Hamas' Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants) and 1,410 Israelis.
Earlier in the day, Bushnell wrote a Facebook post that has since been removed. He wrote: "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."
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A 25-year-old has tragically set himself on fire and died after accusing the US government and Israel of 'genocide' (LinkedIn)Then, Bushnell posted another video before he went out to perform the spectacle, explaining what he was about to do and why.
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"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," he says.
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A 25-year-old US Air Force officer, Aaron Bushnell, shocked the country when he set himself on fire and died in front of the Israeli embassy in a 'protest' (Twitter)"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 colonisers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal."
He started to livestream his act of self-immolation on Twitch, a popular video streaming website. While the video has been taken off Twitch, police have revealed the contents.
Aaron Bushnell has been identified as the man (Twitter)The footage shows him walking up to the Israeli embassy, dousing himself in a liquid, lighting the fire, and screaming 'Free Palestine' repeatedly until he died. The MPD quickly surrounded him, with one officer pointing a gun at Bushnell, while others extinguished the flames.
Aaron Bushnell was only 25-years-old from San Antonio, Texas. This event occurred just before 1 pm on Sunday when he walked up towards the Embassy.
Bushnell passed away on Sunday, as confirmed by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington.
Police are still investigating the death of a young US air force engineer after his self-immolation (Twitter)This happened while Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is wanting approval from the cabinet for a military operation in Rafah, a city located in southern Gaza.
The possible cease-fire discussions are ongoing. The military efforts of Israel in Gaza have brought criticism upon them, including accusations of committing genocide against Palestinians.
However, Israel fiercely refutes such charges and states they're adhering to international law during the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
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A US Air Force officer lost his life 'protesting' against the Israeli onslaught in Gaza (Twitter)
Aaron Bushnell, 25, was an 'aspiring engineer' and seeking to 'transition out of the military' (Twitter)South Africa brought a case to the UN court accusing Israel of 'genocide,' and the court ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction, and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering an end to the fighting or calling Israel's actions genocidal.
In December, a person set themselves on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, using gasoline to fuel the flames, said Atlanta's fire department. A Palestinian flag was discovered at the scene, suggesting this act was a serious political protest.
Bushnell walks to the embassy (Twitter)
He live streamed and described what he was going to do and why (Twitter)The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington stated that their officers had rushed to the scene outside the Israeli Embassy to help US Secret Service officers and that their bomb squad had been summoned to check out a suspicious car. They found no dangerous materials, the police reported.
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