Aaron Bushnell
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Aaron Bushnell Setting Himself On Fire In Protest Of Gaza Genocide Is Predictably Being Twisted

On Sunday, an active duty member of the US Air Force, Aaron Bushnell, shocked the world as he live streamed himself self-immolating in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. Screaming “free Palestine” repeatedly as he burned to death. His act of sacrifice in what he described as “an extreme act of protest” is predictably being distorted, twisted, and even celebrated by pro-Israel supporters and media.

Aaron Bushnell was only 25 years old when he took his own life to raise awareness for those who had theirs taken away from them in Gaza. Described by those who knew him as “one of the most principled comrades I’ve ever known,” according to Independent journalist Talia Jane who spoke to an individual named Xlyem that worked with Bushnell in supporting San Antonio’s unhoused residents. Although many details about Aaron Bushnell are not yet fully explored, his last social media post read:

“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.”

While there is no escaping the reality of why and how Bushnell set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy, with the video having been streamed live on Twitch, during which he states that he refuses to be complicit in genocide and repeatedly screams “free Palestine” until his dying breath, Western corporate media found a way to hide it in their headlines.

The CNN headline read “US airman dies after setting himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in Washington”; while the BBC wrote “Aaron Bushnell: US airman dies after setting himself on fire outside Israeli embassy in Washington”; the Washington Post also wrote “Airman dies after setting himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in D.C.”; Reuters published that “US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli embassy in Washington”; while the New York Times managed to take the prize for most sanitized headline, reporting that “A man set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, the police said.”

As clearly noted above, the Western corporate media instantly responded to the story by censoring the evident reason that Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire, and in a seemingly coordinated fashion. It is as if they all used AI in order to generate the most pro-Israeli headline possible and ran with it. Well, luckily for the general public, we have social and independent media enabling the truth to spread like wildfire, keeping the message that Aaron Bushnell was seeking to spread alive.

However, also a feature of the independent and social media era is the ability for personalities, governments, corporations, and entities to promote distortions and outright lies. Allegations immediately began to spring from pro-Israeli commentators on the need to hide Bushnell’s act and claim that he was mentally ill; without a single shred of evidence to suggest he was suffering from any kind of mental illness. Then we had the likes of Right Wing pro-Israel commentator Laura Loomer, who tweeted “Leftist lunatic who liked anarchist pages. Go figure.” While the pro-Israel Twitter page bearing the name Mossad Commentary called Bushnell “an idiot” and boasted “our enemies kill themselves”, other Israeli accounts joked about the death of the US service member.

While Laura Loomer called Bushnell a “Leftist lunatic”, others claimed he was a “white supremacist”, or “an Antifa group member too“. Then we have those who attempted to make the issue about mental health issues, along with painting people with pro-Palestinian views as violent and suicidal, which needs more of a historical explanation than this disrespectful and even anti-American rhetoric coming from Zionists.

Although the act of self-immolation is horrid and everyone who watched the video of Aaron Bushnell taking his life were understandably horrified — with the exception of Zionists who are quite fine with laughing over dead children in Gaza — the act was intended to have this impact. For historical reference, a Buddhist monk, named Thich Quang Duc, set himself on fire in 1963, in protest of the South Vietnamese regime’s oppression of his people, so too did anti-war activist Norman Morrison in 1965; two major moments in the history of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

In Tibet, Buddhist monks have routinely set themselves on fire in protest of abuses on their territory, with over 145 having self-immolated. In the United Kingdom, Graham Bamford set himself on fire in front of the British Parliament building to protest the mass slaughter of Bosnians in 1993. A Tunisian street vendor by the name of Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire in protest in 2010, serving as the catalyst for a popular revolution in Tunisia. This act is also credited with starting the Arab Spring uprisings throughout the region.

The tactic of setting oneself on fire is not new and has historically been used in protest of extreme atrocities or forms of oppression, which has clearly occurred here over the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Bushnell is also not the first to self-immolate in protest of the US supporting the war on Gaza, a woman, who the authorities would not permit any details to be shared publicly on, also did the same in Atlanta, Georgia months ago. It also goes without saying that just because someone commits an extreme act like this, does not denote an entire anti-war movement as being brainwashed by a suicidal mentality, just as it did not during the anti-Vietnam War struggle.

The US Air Force has also reportedly been directly involved in the attack against the people of Gaza, with journalist Max Blumenthal noting that a notice had been sent out to Air Force members that they could be deployed to Israel, this makes Aaron Bushnell’s reasoning behind wearing his uniform as he set himself on fire very much relevant to his actions and statements.

Another element of this story is its place in history and how it showed the Arab World another side to members of the US military. Due to the US military having been involved in so many wars of aggression and crimes against humanity across the Arab World, it’s fair to say that it is extremely unpopular and, for the most part, hated. But after witnessing what Aaron Bushnell did, an outpour of solidarity, admiration for the bravery of the act, and sadness of his passing emerged from the Arab World, which has been widely reflected across social media. Even if the event is going to be twisted and ignored in the West, it has already achieved one major thing, and that is showing the Arab World that there are kind hearted American citizens — even serving in the armed forces — that are willing to sacrifice their lives for peace.

Many may try to judge the act, which I believe is not our place in honor of Aaron Bushnell’s memory and family, but one thing that nobody can dispute is his bravery. At a moment when the people of Gaza face annihilation at the hands of a US backed military force, Aaron Busnell stood up and put literally everything on the line for peace.

Robert Inlakesh
Robert Inlakesh
Robert Inlakesh is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, writer, Middle-East analyst & news correspondent for The Last American Vagabond.
https://twitter.com/falasteen47

2 Replies to “Aaron Bushnell Setting Himself On Fire In Protest Of Gaza Genocide Is Predictably Being Twisted

  1. The act committed by Bushnell without any doubt was very traumatic. The use of traumatic “events” by the media to manipulate the minds of the masses, however, is nothing new. Given state-of-the-art technology that was perfected years ago, by using invisible light wavelengths, infrared light, information can be transmitted directly into a human mind and body without a person realizing it’s happening in picoseconds, or one-trillionth of a second! A psychodrama is being staged and psychological warfare is being waged!

  2. Aaron Bushnell and his final spiritual resting place

    Aaron Bushnell 25 years young martyred himself in Front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. on Feb. 25.2024 as the ultimate Protest of the Genozide in Gaza by Israel with the ongoing Help of the US Government.

    The only Front Page Coverage he got in US Media was on the military stripes.com News Website. Only one day and the reasons etc. where discussed. At the end this news quickly disappeared.

    As a true human Hero who couldn’t stand the pain that the US Government and Zionist Israel he took his own life in protest.

    Today i made sure that Aaron Bushnell will not disappear in the Newsfiles and be forgotten. I live in Cambodia that has seen similar atrocities against it’s own population which saw 2 million Khmer dead and came from Germany which also has a History of Crimes against Humanity, Genozide and Wars. The latter one is ready to go to War again.

    Someone said to me a few day’s ago “what can we do ?” … Nothing !

    That’s not entirely true as History showed us with People like Nelson Mandela and Gandhi. Solo Fighters that won.

    This morning i went up to Bokor Mountain (1000 meter high) and safed a place for Aaron Bushnell in the tallest 108 Meter high, under construction standing Buddha Statue. There a Buddha Statue with his name will be placed (it could take up to 4 years before the Statue is finished). Here are some pictures of what the construction and the final place will look like.

    Your safe and home now Aaron at least for the next thousand years or so.

    sorry, could not upload pictures associated

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