US Air Force Member Dies After Setting Himself On Fire Outside Israeli Embassy In Washington
Before setting himself on fire, 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell said he would "no longer be complicit in genocide"
A member of the US Air Force has died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, while declaring he will “no longer be complicit in genocide”.
The officers from the US Secret Service extinguished the flames before the man was taken to hospital on Sunday afternoon with serious injuries.
The US Air Force confirmed that an active-duty serviceman was involved in self-immolation. The man was identified as 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell of San Antonio, Texas, according to a report in BBC.
In a video that has gone viral on social media, the man identified himself and said he was a serving member of the Air Force. Before setting himself on fire, he said he would "no longer be complicit in genocide".
The video showed Bushnell in a uniform shouting “Free Palestine” as he burned while identifying himself in front of the embassy building. He was on fire for about a minute before the law enforcement agencies put it out, according to The Guardian.
An Israeli embassy spokesperson said no staff were injured and the man was “unknown” to them.
A post on the social media website Facebook attributed to Bushnell circulated on X on Monday stated, “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”
However, the authenticity of the post could not be verified.
This is not the first time when someone has self-immolated in front of an Israeli embassy in the US.
Earlier in December 2023, a protester set himself on fire in front of the Israeli consulate in Georgia in the US. According to police, the demonstrator used petrol and a Palestinian flag was found at the site of the incident.
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