By Islam Dogru
NEW YORK (AA) - US Air Force serviceman Aaron Bushnell, who died after self-immolating in protest of Israel's war in Gaza, wrote in his will that he wanted his ashes to be scattered in a free Palestine.
“I am sorry to my brother and my friends for leaving you like this. Of course, if I was truly sorry, I wouldn’t be doing it. But the machine demands blood. None of this is fair,” Bushnell wrote before setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC last Sunday, according to Memoirs of Aaron Bushnell, an article published on the Crimethinc website.
“I wish for my remains to be cremated. I do not wish for my ashes to be scattered or my remains to be buried as my body does not belong anywhere in this world,” he wrote.
“If a time comes when Palestinians regain control of their land, and if the people native to the land would be open to the possibility, I would love for my ashes to be scattered in a free Palestine,” he added.
Bushnell, 25, an active-duty member of the Air Force, set himself on fire outside the embassy.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide. 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. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” he said during a live stream on his mobile phone.
Then he proceeded to douse himself in gasoline, setting himself ablaze.
Dressed in military uniform, Bushnell shouted “Freedom for Palestine” repeatedly, until he could no longer speak.
An embassy police officer was seen aiming his firearm at Bushnell, who was engulfed in flames, while another attempted to put out the fire, remarking: “I don’t need guns. I need a fire extinguisher.”
The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that Bushnell died after setting himself on fire.
The US Air Force has deemed Bushnell's protest a “tragedy.”