Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC captured the attention of the world. The active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, disillusioned by the military and U.S. government, morally rejected the U.S. government’s support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
The U.S. has provided Israel with the weapons and intelligence to carry out this genocide. Bushnell said, “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.” His last words were “Free Palestine.” Bushnell’s death is a reminder that we cannot sit idly by while a genocide is being conducted in our name.
