Aaron Bushnell’s Self-Immolation Was Counterproductive To The Palestinian Cause

It misportrays the Palestinians’ UN-enshrined right to self-determination as psychopathic and terroristic, thus inadvertently laundering Israeli propaganda that’s exploited to deny them this and collectively punishing them when they rebel.

Active-duty US Airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy on Sunday in what he portrayed as an act of protest against its genocide of the Palestinians. He said that he “will no longer be complicit” in this crime and screamed “Free Palestine!” according to the video that he recorded. While some pro-Palestinian people are praising Bushnell’s self-immolation for drawing attention to their cause, it was actually counterproductive to it and risks discrediting its majority-moderate supporters.

He was clearly suffering from mental illness since stable folks don’t commit suicide, let alone in public and while filming themselves doing it. Furthermore, he convinced himself that he was “complicit” in what Israel is doing to the Palestinians despite that not being the case, which was the pretext upon which he killed himself in public as an act of protest in his mind. The only ones guilty of these crimes, however, are those who directly carry them out or provide direct support (arms, intelligence, etc.) to the culprits.

Likely without intending to, Bushnell implied that all Westerners are also guilty simply because they pay taxes that are then used by their governments to arm Israel or at the very least pay those of their politicians who promote its interests, which is the exact same narrative that Osama Bin Laden pushed in his infamous “Letter to America” from November 2002. This notion is no different than Israel collectively punishing the Palestinians in Gaza on the similarly false basis that their taxes fund its enemy Hamas.

Additionally, those Westerners that lend credence to this narrative out of blind solidarity with the Palestinian cause after Bushnell’s self-immolation are unwittingly inviting attacks on their compatriots, not to mention suggesting that others in their majority-moderate movement share their extremist views. Ironically, many of these same people object to Ukraine relying on this same false standard to justify attacking Russian civilians, yet they have no problem associating Palestine with this twisted ideology.

Bushnell’s self-immolation was therefore counterproductive to the Palestinian cause since it misportrays their UN-enshrined right to self-determination as psychopathic and terroristic, thus inadvertently laundering Israeli propaganda that’s exploited to deny them this and collectively punishing them when they rebel. Making a hero out of someone suffering from mental illness who films themselves committing suicide in public for a cause encourages copycats who’ll then further discredit this same cause.

It's much more productive to lament that widely publicized footage of the Palestinians’ indisputable suffering can push some unstable people over the edge and then encourage a speedy resolution of hostilities in order to avert the risk of more such people following in their tragic footsteps. This approach promotes the Palestinian cause in a much more pragmatic way by disassociating it from mental illness and political extremism in order to protect the personal integrity of its majority-moderate members.