On February 25th, a 25-year-old United States Air Force serviceman committed an act of self-immolation in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. His name was Aaron Bushnell, and he set himself on fire to protest Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip as of October 7th, 2023. Hours later, in a local hospital, he was declared dead by his self-inflicted wounds.
Bushnell was born in Whitman, Massachusetts but spent most of his childhood and teenage years in the Cape Cod Peninsula. Born to parents part of a charismatic Christian group called the Community of Jesus, Bushnell was exposed to ideologies related to the community. Until 2017, Bushnell was also part of the community’s media and distribution front, The Paraclete Press, in Brewster. However, by 2019, Bushnell unofficially left the Community of Jesus, and by May 2020, Bushnell enlisted in the Air Force.
During his service Bushnell was a cyber-defense specialist of the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron stationed at the Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas. It was during this service when Bushnell began to develop political views, mostly of an anarchist and anti-establishment nature. Starting from his participation in aid initiatives headed by the San Antonio Care Collective, Bushnell became critical of the United States’ policies and elitist society, and over time, grew an overt hate for the U.S. military and government, and other associations. These sentiments intensified after the death of George Floyd and the suppression of the Black Lives Matter movements, so much so that Bushnell planned to leave the Air Force when his contract expired in May 2024. From there, Bushnell hoped to attend Southern New Hampshire University, in Hooksett, Massachusetts to earn a degree in software engineering and pursue a career in the respective field.
On October 7th, 2023, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a raid against Israel, killing around 1,200 civilians & kidnapping 200 more as hostages. This provoked Israel to wage a war in the Gaza Strip which has led to over 30,000 dead Palestinians and the starvation, displacement, and general suffering of the strip’s remaining 2 million Palestinians. However, even with harsh criticism from across the world against Israel, many western countries including the United States have continued to support Israel’s campaign of waging war against Hamas and dismantling the Gaza Strip. This continued support led to a change of plans for Bushnell.
On February 25th, in Washington D.C., Bushnell started a live stream from his Twitch channel, called AnarLilyKitty. On the stream, he stated parting words:
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an act of extreme 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 those words, he propped his stream in view of the Israeli Embassy in D.C. and proceeded to pour a flammable liquid onto himself. Before local law enforcement and embassy guards were able to react, Aaron Bushnell lit himself on fire in an act of self-immolation in front of the embassy, and shouted out his final words: “Free Palestine!” Hours later, in a local hospital, Bushnell was declared dead, succumbing to his burns.
Bushnell’s controversial protest provoked an incredibly divisive reaction. Groups including Hamas and certain factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization have commemorated him as a martyr in the cause for Palestinian rights, while others have condemned the act as a foolish, extreme or outright unnecessary endeavor. Some groups downplaying the act have even made claims that Bushnell was mentally unstable, or that he was undetermined and performed the protest haphazardly. Others however have countered these assertions, showing images of how he purposefully spread his stream across social media, and alerted multiple media outlets of his intentions well before the act. Multiple testimonies and statements from close friends and legal staff have also shown that weeks before the immolation, Bushnell had brought his affairs in order and showed signs of preparing to tie up loose ends. The Air Force has also commented on the situation, showing their respects to Senior Airman Bushnell, which discredits accusations of mental instability.
However, no matter the background of Bushnell or his personal circumstances, the fact is that he set himself on fire in an act of protest against an extremely controversial conflict pursued under extremely controversial circumstances. As of March 15th, Israel and Hamas are still in conflict with each other, and the United States is still providing Israel with economic and military aid. However, the U.S. has become increasingly concerned over the prosecution of the war, and as of February, the United Nations and United States has been circulating a draft calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, alongside other clauses such as the release of hostages on both sides, an enforcement of international law, and an immediate halt of Israeli actions in the city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Gazans have taken refuge in. It is currently unknown if the draft is ever to be passed, and if it will even be respected and enforced by the conflicting parties, but hope for peace in the region nonetheless rests on the draft and its call for a ceasefire.
