{"id":46280,"date":"2024-02-26T13:45:07","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T21:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=46280"},"modified":"2024-02-26T13:45:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T21:45:07","slug":"airman-sets-himself-on-fire-to-protest-genocide-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/26\/airman-sets-himself-on-fire-to-protest-genocide-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Airman Sets Himself on Fire To Protest Genocide in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

A young Air Force airman set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in DC to protest genocide in Gaza. Aaron Bushnell, 25, died after being taken to a hospital.<\/p>\n

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Aaron Bushnell before he set himself on fire. Mainstream media sites chose not to feature any images of Bushnell, focusing instead on the Israeli Embassy or \u201cthe crime scene\u201d<\/em><\/figcaption>

This was an extreme and deadly act of political protest directed against the Israeli government\u2019s killing and wounding of 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza and its ongoing war of annihilation there, a war abetted by the U.S. government\u2019s political and military power. Bushnell shouted \u201cFree Palestine!\u201d as he burned.<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Bizarrely, an officer at the scene pointed a gun<\/a> at him as he burned before another first responder asked for fire extinguishers. How a man on fire posed a threat to others is unclear.<\/p>\n

Coverage in the mainstream media is revealing. I checked three sites: NBC, CBS, and the Guardian in Britain. Let\u2019s look at NBC first. NBC said<\/a> that Bushnell\u2019s act was an \u201capparent protest\u201d against the \u201cIsraeli-Hamas war.\u201d NBC later added that Israel\u2019s \u201ccrackdown\u201d in Gaza was termed a genocide by Bushnell. NBC itself stuck to the narrative that Israel is engaged in a defensive war, a \u201ccrackdown,\u201d against Hamas.<\/p>\n

Next, let\u2019s look at CBS. CBS repeated<\/a> the narrative of \u201can apparent protest of Israel’s actions in its war against Hamas.\u201d CBS did mention that Bushnell\u2019s stated motivation was that he could no longer be complicit in an ongoing genocide in Gaza, followed by a lengthy denial by Netanyahu and the Israeli government. Claims of genocide are \u201cfalse\u201d and \u201coutrageous,\u201d as CBS gave Netanyahu the last word.<\/p>\n

Turning to the British Guardian<\/a>, its first sentence is more blunt: An active-duty member of the US air force has died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC<\/a>, while declaring he will \u201cno longer be complicit in genocide\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

It also included a key statement Bushnell apparently included on his Facebook page: \u201cMany of us like to ask ourselves, \u2018What 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?\u2019 The answer is, you\u2019re doing it. Right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the Guardian downplayed the 100,000 killed and wounded in Gaza as numbers generated by the \u201cHamas-run health service\u201d there.<\/p>\n

The final site I\u2019d like to consider is Antiwar.com, an example of alternative media, I suppose. This site gets it right, in my view, so I\u2019m posting the article here<\/a> in its entirety:<\/p>\n

US Airman Sets Himself on Fire in Front of Israeli Embassy to Protest Gaza Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

The airman said he would ‘no longer be complicit in genocide’<\/p>\n

by Dave DeCamp February 25, 2024 at 9:04 pm ET
\nUpdated on 2\/26\/24 at 7:44 am EST<\/em><\/p>\n

An active duty US airman set himself on fire<\/a> in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington DC to protest the US-backed slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

According to Talia Jane, an independent journalist who obtained the video of the incident, the airman, who was identified as Aaron Bushnell, 25, died of his wounds late Sunday night.<\/p>\n

According to Axios<\/em>, a video of the incident shows<\/a> the airman saying he would \u201cno longer be complicit in genocide\u201d and that he was about to \u201cengage in an extreme act of protest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it\u2019s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,\u201d Bushnell said right before lighting himself on fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While on fire, he repeatedly shouted, \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d He burned for about one minute before law enforcement officers extinguished the flames. According to Jane, one officer initially drew his gun on the airman as he burned.<\/a><\/p>\n

Washington DC\u2019s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department said in a post on X <\/a>that the airman was transported to a hospital with \u201ccritical life-threatening injuries.\u201d The department also said the officers who extinguished the fire were members of the US Secret Service.<\/p>\n

The dramatic protest comes as the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by the Israeli campaign is approaching 30,000, and over 69,000 have been wounded. About two-thirds of the casualties are women and children.<\/p>\n

The International Court of Justice has ruled that it\u2019s \u201cplausible\u201d Israel is committing genocide and decided to take up the case brought to the court by South Africa. Despite the massive civilian casualty rate and international pressure, the US continues to provide unconditional support for the slaughter.<\/p>\n

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. A young Air Force airman set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in DC to protest genocide in Gaza. Aaron Bushnell, 25, died after being taken to a hospital. Aaron Bushnell before he set himself on fire. Mainstream media sites chose not to feature any images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-46280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"Mainstream Media Outlets Say No One Was Harmed in the Israeli Embassy while Denying the Reality of Genocide"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46280"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46285,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46280\/revisions\/46285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46280"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=46280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}