One year ago, on 25 February 2024 the 25-year old US Airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. to protest against the Israeli genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians, he said that he refused to be “complicit in the genocide of Palestinians”, and as his body burnt in flames, he cried out six times “Free Palestine”.
The politicians in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin took no notice. No one cared. Washington and the Europeans continued delivering lethal weapons to Israel, weapons to kill more women and children. And, indeed, since Aaron’s death, many tens of thousands have lost their lives under Israeli bombardment in Gaza, Palestine and Lebanon.
The International Court of Justice has issued three orders requiring Israel to stop the killing. Orders that were ignored by Israel. The ICJ also issued an Advisory Opinion on 19 July 2024 specifically ruling that the Israeli occupation was illegal, demanding its termination and the payment of compensation to the Palestinian victims. To no avail, because Washinton, London, Paris and Berlin are all complicit.
On 27 February 2024 I published an article honouring Aaron Bushnell. Allow me to quote from that article:
The live-streaming and subsequent videos of US active duty airman Aaron Bushnell’s extreme sacrifice in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Sunday 25 February 2024 should make us reflect on the complicity of our governments in the on-going genocide being perpetrated by Israel on the hapless Palestinian people….
The self-immolation brings back memories of the Vietnamese monks who self-immolated in the 1960s in protest against the oppressive Saigon government and the US aggression of their country. Further self-immolations took place in the United States, including on 16 March 1965, Alice Herz, an 82-year old peace activist, in front of the Federal Department Store in Detroit, Norman Morrison, a 31-year old Quaker pacifist, who poured kerosene over himself and set himself alight outside the Pentagon, and Robert LaPorte in front of the United Nations.
It reminds us of the Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi who in 2010 self-immolated in protest against the police brutality of the Tunisian government, and whose sacrifice was the occasion that triggered what came to be known as the ‘Arab spring’, and which I consider more like a neo-colonial effort on the part of the US and Europe to cement their control in the MENA region….
Aaron Bushnell, a young man of 25 with all of his life before him, performed the ultimate protest to make the point against the indifference of the world in the face of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, a continuing tragedy which Professor Norman Finkelstein has documented in his comprehensive book Gaza and in his numerous articles and television appearances.
On the video, minutes before setting himself ablaze, Bushnell said with a quiet, measured, resolute voice: “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.” Bushnell was a respected and loved cyber defence operations specialist with the 531st intelligence support squadron at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
In an interview with Newsweek 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…. The United States has got to stand up to Netanyahu and make sure this does not continue.”
Yes, a genocide is unfolding before our eyes. Articles 2 and 3 of the Genocide Convention are clearly engaged, and the issue of “intent” is overwhelmingly established in pages 57-69 of the legal brief submitted by South Africa to the ICJ. On television and the internet we watch the bombardments of hospitals, schools, UN shelters.
While the entire world is clamouring for a cease-fire, the U.S. government abused the veto power in the Security Council three times to block the three draft resolutions on a cease-fire….
On 26 January 2024 the International Court of Justice issued a comprehensive order of “provisional measures” of protection, an injunction, which is legally binding under article 41 of the Statute of the ICJ, and which Israel has systematically violated, as it violated the ICJ’s earlier Advisory Opinion on the Wall, dated 9 July 2004.
On 16 February the ICJ published a decision on the South African second request for additional measures of protection:
“The Court notes that the most recent developments in the Gaza Strip, and in Rafah in particular, ‘would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences’, as stated by the United Nations Secretary-General (Remarks to the General Assembly on priorities for 2024 (7 Feb. 2024)). This perilous situation demands immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures indicated by the Court in its Order of 26 January 2024, which are applicable throughout the Gaza Strip, including in Rafah, and does not demand the indication of additional provisional measures. The Court emphasizes that the State of Israel remains bound to fully comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention and with the said Order, including by ensuring the safety and security of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
While I understand Aaron Bushnell’s motivation and his noble hope that his self-immolation would make an impact on our politicians, I fear that the deep-seated cynicism in the US and Israeli governments and the cavalier attitude of the mainstream media will effectively give carte blanche to … Netanyahu, who will continue ignoring all calls for a cease-fire and will very soon “cancel” the memory of Bushnell’s sacrifice….
It is rare to see someone today actually following his principles and going through to the ultimate (and excruciatingly painful) sacrifice. In my opinion, and in that of many peace-activists, it would have been more sensible to live for the cause of peace and not to die in protest against a criminal war. Peace-making is work-in-progress, a daily commitment.
The deconstruction and desacralization of Western society has made gestures as Aaron Bushnell’s harder to relate to than in the past, because our society has lost its moral compass, its capacity for empathy. Indeed, Western society is impregnated with cynicism to such a degree that a sacrifice for a cause greater than oneself seems incomprehensible, a far harder concept to grasp intellectually — let alone feel — for modern rootless materialists. …
I urge fellow Americans and the US military, especially Bushnell’s Airforce comrades, to demand that the US government stop supplying arms to Israel immediately and that the US cease blocking the Security Council when a resolution is tabled by Algeria or any other country.
We know that the world stood and watched when Pol Pot massacred his own people in Cambodia in the 1970s, the world did nothing to stop the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Today it is up to us to demand accountability. We must all stand together against the genocide in Gaza.
And if we really mean it, we should pray for all the victims of this senseless slaughter in Gaza, we should also pray for the soul of Senior Airman Bushnell. I would like to see a bronze monument erected to him, exactly where he self-immolated himself. His extreme sacrifice must not be forgotten.
As a practising Catholic, I will have Masses read for his soul. I also extend my deepest sympathies to his family and friends. God bless his soul….”
On the night of 8 March 2024 Dave Clennon, a former US Air Force Training Corps member, delivered a eulogy at a vigil held for Aaron Bushnell at the Venice Pier over the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles, California. Clenon said : “I do not know how to express the reverence, and the gratitude, and the sense of loss we all feel about Aaron Bushnell. All I can say is, ‘Aaron, our brother, we thank you, we bless you, we grieve you, and we will honor you, by our actions. We will carry on your struggle.’… Aaron Bushnell knew he was serving in an Air Force that was supplying bombs and rockets to the ruthless, vicious, Israeli pilots, and navigators, who are slaughtering the people of Gaza, with no mercy, and not the slightest sign of remorse. Because he knew that he was serving a radical evil, Aaron liberated himself from that unholy force, by an act of divine violence….In defiance of his criminal government, Aaron martyred himself.”
On 10 March 2024 the West Bank city of Jericho renamed a road after Aaron Bushnell. The mayor revealed the new sign of Aaron Bushnell Street in front of a small gathering of people. Bushnell “sacrificed everything” for the Palestinians, said Jericho mayor Abdul Karim Sidr.
On the first anniversary of Aaron Bushnell’s death, let us reflect on the meaning of his act. Let us work for peace and reconciliation throughout the world.