Pro-Palestinian activists host a vigil for Aaron Bushnell outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. on February 26, 2024. Source: X
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On February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, approached the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., and set himself on fire to protest the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, saying he would “no longer be complicit in genocide.” His act of protest has garnered praise from anti-Israel groups and foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).
Bushnell is the second person to self-immolate in front of a U.S.-based Israeli government building in protest of the war: in December 2023, an unidentified woman was critically injured after setting herself on fire in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta.
Bushnell livestreamed his protest on Twitch; his account has since been removed. As he walked towards the embassy, Bushnell said to the camera, "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.”
Once outside the embassy, Bushnell placed his camera on the ground and poured gasoline over himself. As he burned, Bushnell repeatedly shouted “Free Palestine!” until he collapsed to the ground. Bushnell was transported to a local hospital and later died from his injuries.
Reactions to Bushnell’s immolation
Anti-Israel and far-left accounts have hailed Bushnell as a martyr, celebrating his act for its impact – primarily raising awareness of the Palestinians’ plight. Some pointed to a satirical account claiming to represent Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, celebrating Bushnell’s suicide in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The post, which has since been deleted, is not tied in any way to Mossad or the Israeli government.
X post from failed 2018 U.S. Senate candidate and antisemite Sam Parker sharing the fake Mossad post.
Below is a collection of reactions to Bushnell’s protest from various anti-Israel and far-left activists and groups.
Radical antisemitic and anti-Zionist Telegram channel Resistance News Network (RNN), which disseminates translations of propaganda and communiques from foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), shared statements from Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — both U.S. State Department-designated FTOs.
RNN reported that Hamas issued a statement expressing condolences and “full solidarity” to Bushnell’s friends and family.
“The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden bears full responsibility for the death of the American military pilot Aaron Bushnell due to its policy that supported the Nazi zionist [sic] entity in the genocide war against our Palestinian people… The heroic pilot Aaron Bushnell will remain immortal in the memory of our Palestinian people and the free people of the world, and a symbol of the spirit of global humanitarian solidarity with our people and their just cause.”
RNN also reported that the PFLP issued a statement expressing similar sentiments and told its militants to “take this American soldier who sacrificed his life for a noble cause like the Palestinian cause as an example and role model, and to leave the trenches of waiting, incapacity, and move to the trench of confrontation in support of Palestine.”
At least two chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine shared part of the PLFP’s statement in stories posted on Instagram.
In an Instagram post, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), an anti-Zionist activist group that frequently expresses support for terrorism against Israel, hailed Bushnell as a “martyr,” writing,
“[Bushnell’s] final moment was spent in the heat of one naked, unflinching truth: the moral conscience of every human being, from the belly of the beast to the farthest reaches of the Earth, demands immediate attention and action to end the horrors before us. Let Aaron’s words and last act burn brightly in our conscience, let it propel us, let it move us to continue struggling for a Free Palestine, now and until the hour of liberation.”
The PYM shared a post on February 25, hailing Bushnell’s act as “took a heroic stand.” These posts were shared by several anti-Zionist groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations - San Francisco Bay Area and dozens of U.S. chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine.
In a statement posted to Instagram, the ANSWER Coalition, an anti-war group, hailed Bushnell’s self-immolation as an “act of martyrdom,” comparing his act to the 1965 self-immolation of Norman Morrison, who set himself on fire below the office of then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in protest of the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.
Anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace posted a statement to X and Instagram praising his "heroic act” and described self-immolation as a “call to action for justice.”
Activist and poet Mohammed El-Kurd, The Nation’s Palestine Correspondent, posted on X:
“You can’t protest peacefully. You can’t boycott. You can’t hunger strike. You can’t hijack planes. You can’t block traffic. You can’t throw Molotovs. You can’t self-immolate. You can’t heckle politicians. You can’t march. You can’t riot. You can’t dissent. You just can’t be.”
Academic, activist and 2024 independent presidential candidate Cornel West posted on X:
“Let us never forget the extraordinary courage and commitment of brother Aaron Bushnell who died for truth and justice! I pray for his precious loved ones! Let us rededicate ourselves to genuine solidarity with Palestinians undergoing genocidal attacks in real time! #AaronBushnell #FreePalestine”
Across X, various anti-Israel and far-left accounts have also shared graphics and memes hailing Bushnell’s immolation.
Several anti-Israel activist groups have organized vigils in Bushnell’s honor, including in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York City, Cleveland, Houston and Atlanta, in front of federal offices and Israeli consulates.
Who was Aaron Bushnell?
A review of Bushnell’s social media accounts indicates he held strong anti-Zionist and anarchist views.
Bushnell made multiple extreme anti-Israel posts on Reddit. “Israel is a white supremacist, ethnonationalist, settler-colonial apartheid state… it has no right to exist,” Bushnell wrote on February 3, 2024. In an October 24, 2023, post, he appeared to condone Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, writing, “Can you or I really say that Indigenous people are wrong for retaliating against colonizers who are rubbing their domination in their face?”
Bushnell used the anarchist symbol as his profile photo on the Twitch account he created to livestream his act, and his username was “LillyAnarKitty,” another apparent anarchist nod.
Bushnell’s Twitch channel
Bushnell liked and/or followed several anarchist pages on Facebook, including Burning River Anarchist Collective, a Cleveland, Ohio-based anarchist group and Black Rose/Rosa Negra San Antonio, a locally active anarchist federation. Bushnell also liked a page belonging to the Kent State University chapter of SJP.
Crimethinc, a well-known anarchist collective, also claimed in a February 26 blog post that Bushnell had emailed them shortly before the incident, asking they "make sure that the footage is preserved and reported on.”
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