Aaron Bushnell, who died last month, ‘sacrificed everything’ for Palestinians, says mayor of Jericho
A few of the initial paragraphs for context follow - but the article is worth reading fully:
The Palestinian town of Jericho has named a street after Aaron Bushnell, the US air force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest against the war in Gaza.
The 25-year-old, who died on 25 February, “sacrificed everything” for Palestinians, said the mayor of Jericho, Abdul Karim Sidr, as the street sign was unveiled on Sunday.
“We didn’t know him, and he didn’t know us. There were no social, economic or political ties between us. What we share is a love for freedom and a desire to stand against these attacks [on Gaza],” the mayor told a small crowd gathered on the new Aaron Bushnell Road.
Bushnell livestreamed his self-immolation on the social media platform Twitch, declaring he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” and shouting “free Palestine” as he started the fire. Law enforcement officials put out the flames, but he died in hospital several hours later.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people, the majority of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The war was triggered by the cross border attack on 7 October when Hamas killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250 people.
Even as governments in Europe and the US have largely continued to back Israel’s campaign in Gaza as part of the country’s right to self-defence, Palestinians have taken heart from popular protests held from Michigan to Madrid.
Just to explain why, not to take from your broader point, it’s because he’s not of the people being harmed. Typically this form of protest is done by those being harmed.
The thing is, and I’m not bringing it to say it is anyone’s obligation no matter what they do or who they are, but Bushnell was a soldier. A soldier is usually already not as removed from the idea of death or harm coming their way, unlike most other people. Ideally, they are not readily available to put their own lives in the line, but they are aware the job entails duty and that duty may require more than common resources, hence putting the body at risk.
When you simply shift this duty to uphold justice for oppressed people on the other side of the planet rather than to sit with thumbs twiddling for your own country’s military orders, it is easily justifiable to use this resource in line to protect others.
A journalist, a psychiatrist, or many of the other life occupancies have different resources they use and can also utilize as a last resort.
Airman. He also had some pretty extreme claims about who exactly was doing what in Gaza.
An airman is a specific subset of soldier. I know you’re just trying to be dismissive, but stop being a pedantic asshole, and wrong at that.
Soldiers serve in an army. The USAF hasn’t been a part of the army since 1947. Pedantic, sure. Wrong? No.
A definition for soldier is one who serve in an army and an army is “a large organized body of armed personnel trained for war especially on land” (emphasis mine, note not explicitly on land) or “a unit capable of independent action and consisting usually of a headquarters, two or more corps, and auxiliary troops”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/army
The Air Force absolutely fits the latter definition, and it fits the former as well if you don’t consider the land part exclusive, which it isn’t.
Other definitions of soldier also exist, which do not require it be a member of an army, but a military in general. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soldier
If you’re going to be pedantic, at least be pedantic and accurate. There’s no sense in being pedantic and wrong.