U.S. Air Force Member Dies After Setting Himself On Fire Outside Israeli Embassy

OAN’s Elizabeth Bolbelding
11:50am – Monday, February 26, 2024

A US Air Force member has reportedly died after self-immolating outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, in an apparent protest against the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

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On Monday, authorities confirmed that 25-year-old U.S. Air Force member Aaron Bushnell died after self-immolating outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.

Bushnell, a native of San Antonio, Texas, died a short time later, an Air Force spokesman said.

The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed it assisted the Secret Service after receiving a call to the incident on International Drive around 1pm on Sunday.

In a video posted online, Bushnell was seen wearing a military uniform, shouting “Liberate Palestine” and claiming to be an active-duty Air Force soldier.

He repeatedly set himself on fire while shouting chants. He reportedly burned for “almost a minute” before authorities extinguished the fire.

Bushnell approached the Israeli embassy and began live streaming the video on the video streaming site Twitch, according to people familiar with the matter.

He then put down his cellphone, doused himself in a gasoline-like liquid, set himself on fire, and declared: “I will no longer participate in genocide.” However, the video was removed from the streaming service an hour after it was reported.

“I will no longer take part in the genocide.” [in Gaza]. Bushnell allegedly said, “I’m going to do a radical protest,” then doused himself with an unknown liquid and repeatedly shouted “Liberate Palestine” before self-immolating.

Bushnell posted his last words on Facebook hours before committing the tragic act of self-immolation.

“Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I lived in a time of slavery?’ Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? If my country was committing genocide, what would I do? What would you do?” The answer is, you are doing it. Now,” he wrote on Facebook.

An Air Force spokesperson said Bushnell was an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, but provided no other information. An Israeli embassy spokesperson said the man was “unknown” and that no other staff members were injured in the incident.

Police said an explosive ordnance disposal unit was called to the scene due to a suspicious vehicle and driver possibly related to Bushnell. But nothing dangerous was found.

Shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department responded to a call of a person starting a fire outside the embassy. However, the fire had already been extinguished by Secret Service personnel before firefighters arrived.

Bushnell suffered potentially life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, where he later died, according to DC Fire and EMS.

Opponents of the conflict say pro-Palestinian demands to stop “Israeli military attacks in Gaza” have drawn attention to the embassy as a venue for protests. Many of the pro-Palestinian supporters who spoke to reporters essentially said that Israel and the IDF are trying to stop the hundreds of Israeli and American hostages still held in Gaza in order to combat further Palestinian bloodshed. He hinted that I should forget about it.

The incident occurred after an October 7 cross-border attack by the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas against Israel.^thIn 2023, more than 200 hostages and 1,200 people died.