Praise of Bushnell's self-immolation puts US closer to suicide bombings - comment

The American radical left’s glorification of the self-immolation of US airman Aaron Bushnell in front of Israel’s Washington, DC embassy on Sunday is another step toward widespread acts of political violence in America.

Bushnell approached the embassy in his uniform, doused himself in a flammable liquid, and before setting himself alight and mortally wounding himself, gave a speech.

“I am an active duty member of the US Air Force,” said Bushnell. “And I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people in Palestine have been experiencing at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

In any other situation, Bushnell’s suicide would result in so-called compassionate humanitarians raising awareness about mental health and suicide prevention. Instead, his action was treated as legitimate and he was called a martyr who died in an act of “resistance.”

“Let us never forget the extraordinary courage and commitment of brother Aaron Bushnell, who died for truth and justice!” said independent presidential candidate Cornel West. “I pray for his precious loved ones! Let us rededicate ourselves to genuine solidarity with Palestinians undergoing genocidal attacks in real time!”

Green Party politician Jill Stein said that Bushnell should “rest in power” and that his “sacrifice” should “deepen our commitment to stop genocide now.”

Egyptian-American activist Aya Hijazi called Bushnell a “a hero and a martyr,” and said that those who didn’t “feel anger because government and media institutions have left no means to break through their walls of silence and complicity but such extreme acts, are the ones who are mentally ill.”

Not the first to set themself on fire in protest of Israel

The US is suffering from a mental health crisis, with nearly 20% of American adults experiencing mental illness in 2019 according to Mental Health America. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the American suicide rate in 2021 was 14.04 per 100,000 individuals. Having suicide ideologically sanctioned if done in protest risks the lives of those in vulnerable mental conditions or have also worked themselves into a state of hysteria over a war an ocean away.

Yet it is not only irresponsible to promote suicide because of those that my commit it, but also because an act of suicidal political protest is another step toward more political violence.

Willingness to commit harm to oneself is an act of violence, even if directed inward. The line between self-immolation and a suicide bombing is one of tools and the will to extend that violence onto others. Willingness to inflict violence on others is a matter of accepting the tactic as a justified objective and the legitimacy of a target.  

The American radical left has made it clear that it is not against extending the tools used to achieve its political objectives. Since the October 7 Hamas massacre, protesters in New York City have repeatedly called for “resistance” by “any means necessary.”

Political violence has become accepted if the ends justify the means. There are countless examples of US-based radicals who embraced the Hamas pogrom, calling it an act of “decolonization” or “resistance.” As writer Najma Sharif wrote on X on the day of the attack: “What did y’all think decolonization meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays? Losers.”

In January, the Majority Report’s Emma Vigeland condoned the Houthi use of maritime terrorism against civilian vessels to force a political outcome on Israel and the US. In November a TikTok trend saw users post videos expressing sympathy for September 11 terrorist attack mastermind and Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, because they read his “Letter to the American People,” which justified his actions with diatribes on Jewish conspiracies, US imperialism, and class warfare.

The far-Left already believes it is grappling with an evil that justifies violence. Bushnell had been deluded into thinking that there was a genocide occurring. He also touched upon another devil in the radical-left’s pantheon of demons, calling Israelis “colonizers.” Israel is also accused by those of Bushnell’s political orientation of “apartheid,” with racism perhaps the greatest evil in the left-wing American mind.

Israeli embassies are already valid potential targets to such activists, since it has been argued numerous times that no Israelis are civilians, since they are considered actual or potential soldiers in the IDF. Yet the past several months have also shown the increased legitimacy of attacking anything connected to Israel, from Jewish houses of worship to smashing the windows of a Starbucks in Seattle. Anything with any relationship to Israel has for years been a valid target for boycott by student activists, who already believe certain forms of speech is violence anyway.

There does not appear to be any ideological or moral restrictions preventing terrorist attacks as suicide bombings. On Monday, videographer Ford Fischer documented activists expressing calls for violent escalation in Bushnell’s name. Activists burned the Israeli flag in solidarity with Bushnell, and chanted, “If we burn, you burn with us!”

One speaker in Fischer’s video, Fatima from Afghanistan, said that Bushnell “put his principled militant politics into action and set himself on fire. I can promise you that he wants us to do more. He wants us to be more militant and radical in our actions. I hear a lot of revolutionary rhetoric in these protests and rallies, but all our tactics have been liberal as hell.”

Another speaker called to “escalate the situation,” and another led chants calling “We won’t hide, we won’t cower! Take up guns and seize their power!” and the classic “There is only one solution, Intifada revolution!”

The Second Intifada saw Palestinians attacking Israeli civilians by committing suicide with explosive vests. The reaction of the radical left to Bushnell’s death shows that there is only one thing preventing Americans from perpetrating such an act – an explosive vest. There may be many more Bushnells waiting in the wings, inspired to follow his lead, or escalate to the next level. Those willing to kill themselves for a cause may have no qualms about killing others.