Righteous Fire?

On Sunday February 25th 2024, Airman Aaron Bushnell self immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. He live-streamed this on Twitch and shouted "Free Palestine" as his body was consumed by the flames.

I was beyond shocked to read the news on Reddit and then to watch the video itself, it was heart wrenching. Here an active serviceman chose one of the most extreme methods of protest one can make. Of course immediately you had people saying he was mentally Ill. Perhaps he was. But I believe he believed firmly in the morality of his decision. The last post he made on his Facebook was:

Since this happened Sunday, intrepid sleuths online have allegedly found a reddit account purported to belong to Aaron. The post/comment history of this account is troubling. Both sides are using these posts and his act to justify their own biases. The troubling posts are used to minimize and discredit his Immolation to bring an end to Palestinian plight. His immolation is used to point at his "Mental Illness" and that he shouldn't be idolized.

And I think lionizing Aaron is the wrong thing to do even if you support calls for a ceasefire and Palestinian rights.Idolizing and Lionizing him detracts from the plight of the Palestinian people and makes it about a White Savior which is not what he wanted, nor is it beneficial to the Pro-Palestinian cause. Absolutely the act should be a wakeup call for the Biden administration, the military and to Netanyahu that people are fed-up with the status-quo and blind fealty to Israel.

Based on the postings of the purported account, I do want to take a moment to restate this again. Being Anti-Zionist (in the meaning of against Nationalism and Israeli Supremacy) does not inherently make you Antiemetic. The part that does is when you say "Fuck Israel and the Jewish state, may the Jews be driven into the sea, the Colonizers deserve everything they get". You can certainly, and in my opinion rightly, criticize the current Likud Government and Netanyahu. But to call for the outright slaughter of innocent Israelis because they're Jewish. That is patently unacceptable.

Additionally, you can support Israels right to defend itself and exist, while being able to acknowledge their faults and things they do wrong. I would think the disproportionate slaughter of Palestinian Children, women, the elderly would be unacceptable no matter what side you are on. But I see people defending it left right and center and also the illegal settlements and saying they wish to flatten Gaza and put up settlements the entire length and breadth of the territory. That is evil.

And for the millionth time, Hamas is not the Palestinian people. They are a terrorist organization, no matter how certain circles in the free Palestine movement try to say otherwise. The Palestinian people loathe them, but they have the guns and the bombs, what can the average Palestinian do to oppose them? Perhaps instead of bombing the shit out of them, the Israeli Government and its Western allies, and the Arab League (who so conveniently now cares about Palestinian Plight) could empower the Palestinians to over throw Hamas and we could all move towards a renewed Peace Process. Of course Netanyahu and his far right co-conspirators would need to no longer be in power, because they absolutely are loving the state things are in.

The other lesson I think we can learn from this, and it's why it has taken me a couple days to write this, is to not rush to judgement. Everyone day one in my leftist circles was praising Aaron as a Martyr, blemish free. Since then though as I said before there have been some less than stellar things coming out attributed to him. How much of that is a purposeful smear job from the Pro-Israeli Anti-Palestinian camp, I don't know. But because the waters murky, I was hesitant to jump on that wagon.

But after soul searching, I think the immediacy of why he was doing it, I can support at least his final act taking him at his word. "I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine..." "Free Palestine!". And at the end of the day, a life was lost. A mother and father have lost their child, humanity a brother. Let us remain vigilant in fighting for peace, and calling for an immediate Ceasefire in Gaza.

Please consider clicking here to be taken to Jewish Voice for Peace's Letter to President Biden demanding he call for and facilitate an immediate ceasefire now in Gaza.