Though the ongoing conflict in Gaza has largely stayed within city limits, Americans got an up-close glimpse of the fire this weekend when active airman Aaron Bushnell died after self-immolating on the steps of Washington D.C.’s Israeli Consulate. 


On Sunday afternoon, the 25-year-old active duty air force member arrived at the embassy dressed in his fatigues before dumping the contents of a water bottle atop his head before he set himself ablaze, an act of resistance against what he described as an ongoing “genocide” of the Palestinian people.



“Free Palestine," he yelled as flames covered his body, an incident captured in his Twitch livestream.



The San Antonio resident burned for roughly one minute before a secret service member attempted to extinguish the fire. The airman was then taken to a local hospital where he later died of his injuries.


Yet as several have noted, Bushnell’s act was far from a stunt or a suicide. The practice of self-immolation has long been used as a form of protest, one that has been used in the Arab Spring protests, by Tibetan monks and even amid the ongoing crisis in Gaza, as Time noted.


In early December, a protester carrying the Palestinian flag was left in critical condition after self-immolating in front of the Israeli Embassy in Atlanta The Guardian reported at the time.


We can only hope that peace comes about soon — the only thing airmen should die of is doing really cool plane stunts.