Self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell

On February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old serviceman of the United States Air Force, died after setting himself on fire outside the front gate of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. Immediately before the act, which was live-streamed on Twitch, Bushnell said that he was protesting against "what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers" and declared that he "will no longer be complicit in genocide", after which he doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire.

As he burned, Bushnell repeatedly shouted "Free Palestine!" The fire was eventually extinguished by Secret Service officers. The Metropolitan Police Department also responded to assist the Secret Service. Bushnell was transported to a local hospital in critical condition and was declared dead in the evening.

Bushnell's act was the second self-immolation protesting United States support for Israel in the Gaza war. In December 2023, another protestor set herself on fire at the Israeli consulate in Atlanta. Some supporters of Palestine, including Palestinian militant groups, viewed Bushnell's act as heroic and called him a martyr. Others argued that Bushnell's act should not be praised or viewed as a legitimate form of political protest, warning about "copycats" who might imitate it.

Background

Bushnell's upbringing and views

Bushnell grew up in Orleans, Massachusetts, in the isolated Christian Community of Jesus compound. He attended Nauset Regional High School, and worked for a Brewster, Massachusetts-based Christian book, music, and video publishing company from 2015 to 2017. He told a friend that he left the Community of Jesus in 2019.

He started his career with the United States Air Force (USAF) in May 2020, having completed Basic & Technical Training. He was trained as a Client Systems Technician, specializing in cybersecurity. He later worked as a USAF DevOps engineer in San Antonio, Texas, and was pursuing an undergraduate degree in software engineering from Southern New Hampshire University.

A friend of Bushnell named Lupe Barboza said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Bushnell was religious and anti-imperialistic, but that she did not think that Bushnell was mentally ill. Other friends said that Bushnell's contract with the military was to expire in May and that, following the police murder of George Floyd, Bushnell became more open in his objections with the military.

Bushnell thought of himself as an anarchist. Less than two weeks before his death, he talked with a friend about their shared identities as anarchists and the risks and sacrifices that are needed to be effective as anarchists. Bushnell used the anarchist symbol as his profile photo on the Twitch account he used to livestream his self-immolation, and his username was "LillyAnarKitty". He also followed and liked several anarchist pages on Facebook. In the last months of his life he also published many posts in various anarchism-related Reddit communities. CrimethInc, an anarchist collective, claimed that Bushnell contacted it shortly before his death, asking it to "make sure that the footage is preserved and reported on".

The Intercept found that Bushnell used a Reddit account with the username "acebush1". This user posted on Reddit denouncing Israel as a "settler colonialist apartheid state", and wrote in a comment about the Israeli civilians murdered by Hamas at the Nova music festival: "those people's fun at the music festival was specifically built on Palestinian suffering. There are no innocent civilians in se[t]ller colonialism". He also called Hamas an "anti-colonial resistance organization", and according to one of his friends who was with him on October 7, their reaction to Hamas's attack was "Cool, they broke out of their prison."

December 2023 Atlanta self-immolation

Bushnell was not the first person in the US to use self-immolation to protest against Israel over the Palestinian humanitarian crisis. On December 1, 2023, an individual, whose identity was not revealed by Atlanta authorities, protested via self-immolation outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, which resulted in the protester having critical injuries.

Event

Bushnell drafted a will before immolating himself, which left instructions for his savings to be donated to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund and his cat to be left with a neighbor after his death. On February 25, 2024, 10:54 a.m. local time, the morning of his self-immolation, Bushnell had posted a message on Facebook: "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." He sent a message to media outlets: "Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people."

At approximately 12:58 p.m. local time, Bushnell, dressed in military fatigues, approached the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., intending to immolate himself as an act of protest against the Gaza war. He had created a Twitch account under the name "LillyAnarKitty" with a Palestinian flag as his profile banner and the caption "Free Palestine." While live-streaming, he walked towards the embassy and said:

I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. And 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.

Outside the embassy, Bushnell placed his camera down, positioned himself in front of the gates, and poured a flammable liquid over himself. A security officer approached Bushnell, asking if he needed help, but was ignored.

After igniting himself, Bushnell repeatedly shouted "Free Palestine!" as he was burning, and eventually collapsed to the ground. The security officer radioed in for assistance. A Secret Service officer approached the scene, aimed a gun at Bushnell off-camera, and ordered him to "get on the ground" multiple times while a police officer yelled: "I don't need guns, I need fire extinguishers!" Multiple officers responded to the scene and used fire extinguishers on Bushnell. He was transported to a local hospital by the DC Fire & EMS. At 8:06 p.m. local time, about seven hours after his self-immolation, Bushnell was declared dead from his burn injuries.

Investigation

The Secret Service, Metropolitan Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced they would investigate the incident. The Metropolitan Police refused to confirm the authenticity of the livestream, and the US Air Force cited family notification policies while refusing to speak initially on the situation. A bomb disposal unit was dispatched to investigate concerns of a suspicious vehicle that could have been connected to Bushnell. The area was later declared safe after nothing hazardous was discovered.

A public incident report given to reporters by the Metropolitan Police Department states that Bushnell was "exhibiting signs of mental distress"—namely that he had "doused himself with an unidentified liquid and set himself on fire"—before the Secret Service could reach him. A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy reported that no staff members were injured in the incident.

Reactions

Domestic

Elected officials

Asked by the Associated Press whether "Bushnell's self-immolation might indicate that there is a deeper issue" with US military personnel being concerned about how weapons are used, Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick S. Ryder reaffirmed US support for Israel's operations.

The day after Bushnell's death, Senator Bernie Sanders said, "It's obviously a terrible tragedy, but I think it speaks to the depths of despair that so many people are feeling now about the horrific humanitarian disaster taking place in Gaza, and I share those deep concerns." On March 7, Senator Tom Cotton, who said that Bushnell committed an "act of horrific violence—in support of a terrorist group", proposed two bills that would revoke the security clearances of people who express support for foreign terrorist organizations and codify by statute regulations that ban military service members from participating in protests.

Others

After Bushnell's self-immolation, activists such as Aya Hijazi praised it, as did Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and independent presidential candidate Cornel West.

Some on social media viewed Bushnell's act as heroic and sacrificial. Some Palestinians called him a martyr. Others said his act should not be praised or viewed as a legitimate form of political protest, warning about "copycats" who might imitate it. Some called the public adoration and praising of his act a "death cult". Graeme Wood of The Atlantic wrote "Stop Glorifying Self-Immolation: The tendency to celebrate and encourage this behavior, or even to be moved by it, strikes me as deeply sick."