An active duty US soldier on Sunday set himself on fire as an act of protest against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the complicity of the US in the whole campaign.
“I am an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” the individual said before immolating himself outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
He filmed the protest and livestreamed it on the social media platform Twitch.
“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 colonisers, it is not extreme at all,” the protester stated , and he could be heard repeatedly yelling “Free Palestine” in the video.
According to the Atlanta Community Press Collective, police were on scene within seconds of the self-immolation beginning. Some officers pointed firearms at the burning protester, while others called for fire extinguishers.
Police were not able to extinguish the fire until after the protester collapsed. The protester was then taken to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition, ACP Collective reported.
The video was removed on Sunday afternoon and replaced with a message stating that the channel violated Twitch’s guidelines. It was the only video posted to the account, which had a Palestinian flag as its profile picture.
Protests against Israel have become common across the country and the agitated citizens are expressing their anger against the US state authorities which back Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians with arms and diplomatic cover.
This is the second American to self-immolate in response to the ongoing war in Gaza.
On December 1st, 2023, a protester with a Palestinian flag self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia.
