Will Cook County News

By Nuha Abdessalam

Crowds assembled before the Israeli Consulate this past Thursday, Feb.29. to honor and grieve Air Force engineer Aaron Bushnell.

The 25-year-old active-duty member live-streamed his final act of protest against Israel’s attack and aggression on Gaza with U.S. support.

Bushnell poured a flammable liquid over himself and then set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Feb. 25, and said, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide; I’m about to engage in an extreme act of Protest, but compared to what the people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all,” resulting to Bushnell’s passing that evening.

The vigil’s intention to honor the sacrifices Bushnell made in waking the world’s consciousness has done just that, accumulating crowds of people worldwide conducting vigils to pay respects and has even awakened many to the immense injustices in Palestine supported by the U.S.

An extreme act of protest like the one of Bushnell has been carried out historically and dates back centuries; most recently, before Bushnell, in November 2023, a man in the Democratic Republic of Congo also self-immolated himself into flames holding a sign that said: “Stop the genocide in Congo.”

Words like “Bushnell is a hero” and “All we want is a free Palestine and our freedom” echoed throughout Madison Street, strangers initially but fundamentally united, repeating the last words of Bushnell, “Free Palestine, Free Palestine, Free Palestine.”