Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 9
A US airman has died after setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC on Sunday, shouting “free Palestine”.
Aaron Bushnell, 25, was taken to hospital after Secret Service officers extinguished the flames. Before setting himself alight in what he called an “extreme act of protest”, he said he would “no longer be complicit in genocide”.
No embassy staff members were injured in the incident, a spokeswoman said. A Pentagon spokesman called the incident, which happened at 13:00 local time (18:00 GMT), a “tragic event”.
In a video aired live on streaming site Twitch, Mr Bushnell, who was dressed in military uniform, identified himself and said he was a serving member of the Air Force.
Earlier, he had emailed a number of reporters and left-wing and anarchist news websites. The Atlanta Community Press Collective, one of the groups that received the email, provided a copy to the BBC.
“Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people,” the email read, warning it would be “highly disturbing”.
Mr Bushnell was taken to the hospital in a critical condition.
A bomb disposal unit was sent to the site over concerns about a suspicious vehicle that could have been connected to the individual. This was declared safe after no hazardous materials were found.
Washington police said officers were working with the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate the incident.
In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the offensive in the face of international criticism, saying America would be “doing a hell of a lot more” if it had suffered such an attack.
A Palestinian flag found at the scene was part of the protest, police said.
