Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Albin on Wednesday addressed the widely reported self-immolation of a senior airman in front of the Israeli embassy.
Speaking Wednesday at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington, D.C., Allbin said 25-year-old Senior Airman Aaron Bushnell was “just another Airman we lost” to “suicide.”
“There are about 100 suicides a year, and every year we try to get rid of them, but how can we reduce the number of suicides?” Allvin asked. “So, where we are with this at this point is we understand that there’s a lot of political heat involved with it. This is just one Airman that we’ve lost.”
The Pentagon says the act of a US airman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., was a “tragic event.”
Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Israeli Embassy in New York to remember Air Force Senior Airman Aaron Bushnell, 25, who died after self-immolating to protest Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. People paid their respects by laying flowers, lighting candles and writing letters on paper. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“And we’re really trying to take care of our families and look at our troops and understand if there’s any context behind this and what lessons can be learned, but it’s really It’s about the individuals we have lost,” he added.
Bushnell livestreamed to Twitch in front of the Israeli embassy on Sunday afternoon, then self-immolated as he approached the building. In the video, he said, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”
He then put down his phone, doused himself with accelerant and set himself on fire. The video was removed from the platform, but authorities obtained a copy.
Presidential candidates and activists praise the ‘sacrifice’ of US airman who self-immolated while protesting Israel
Posters of kidnapped people line the gates of the Israeli embassy in Washington. Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty US Air Force senior airman, has died after self-immolating in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., declaring he would “no longer participate in genocide.” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Allbin’s comments at the Brookings Institution were met with jeers and interjections from protesters in the audience, who chanted, “Say his name, Aaron Bushnell!” And he said, “Cease fire now!”
The general ignored the interference and told the audience that a “standard investigative process” was underway to determine the cause of Bushnell’s suicide protest.
“For our Air Force, we consider ourselves to have lost one of our own Airmen, whether politically motivated or otherwise,” Allbin said. “So as we consider where the basis for any suicide is a tragedy, whether it is due to a political protest or an issue of resilience, wherever it is, There’s a standard investigative process that we go through, and we look into it to make sure we understand everything that happened. ”
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Demonstrators lit candles during a vigil outside the Israeli embassy in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Bushnell became the second protester to self-immolate in protest of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Last December, another person self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.
Louis Casiano of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
