Fiery Resistance to Gaza Genocide

On Sunday, Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. to vent his anger at his country’s support for Israel's brutal war on Gaza. 

A video posted on social media shows him walking up to the driveway of the Israeli embassy, setting his phone down on the ground, and pouring an unknown liquid from a bottle over himself. He then ignited it while yelling "Free Palestine" repeatedly.

The flames consumed Aaron’s body and he finally fell to the ground. While Aaron was engulfed in flames, some police officers who were standing nearby with guns drawn, called on him to get on the ground.

The footage, that Aron livestreamed himself on Twitch, explains his reasons for the act of protest.

"My name is Aaron Bushnell, 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."

The 25-year-old officer was taken to hospital in a critical condition but he succumbed to his injuries.

The video was only seen by a few dozen people on Twitch before it was removed by the platform, but more than one million saw it on X.

Before his death he posted online: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, “What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide? The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now."

Aaron’s move comes as the administration of President Joe Biden faces growing pressure over Washington’s political and military support for the Israeli war on Gaza. Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in the besieged territory since Israel launched its war on October 7. Many of the victims are women and children. 

Over the past months, pro-Palestinians have held rallies across the U.S. They have called for a ceasefire and accused Biden of complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza. 

Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s war on Gaza has also alienated many voters, in particular young voters and the Arab-American and Muslim American communities who played an important role in electing him in 2020.  In November, some of these one-time supporters began to organize in key swing states to oppose what they described as “Genocide Joe’s” re-election under the slogan “Abandon Biden”.

In the face of domestic pressure, Biden sharpened criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brutal military campaign in Gaza. 

But, the Biden administration’s criticism of the regime did not go beyond words. 

In action, the White House refused to attach conditions to military and political support for Israel. The U.S. has vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Reports also suggest that the U.S. administration is preparing to send more weapons to Israel. This is in addition to the $3.8 billion military assistance that Washington gives Tel Aviv annually. 

The U.S. stands by Israel as fears grow over a potential Israeli genocide in Rafah amid the regime’s anticipated ground invasion into the southernmost Gazan city.  

Rafah is packed with more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population living in squalid conditions who have fled there under Israeli orders.

But Netanyahu, who is sometimes referred to by his nickname Bibi, insists on carrying out a ground assault on Rafah under the pretext of eliminating the Hamas resistance movement. 

However, the assessments by the Israeli military’s intelligence have revealed that Netanyahu’s dream will remain elusive.