Many were shocked by Sunday’s horrific self-immolation by a serving U.S. military member in front of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. Twenty-five-year-old Aaron Bushnell, a senior airman in the U.S. Air Force, fatally set himself on fire while wearing his military uniform and shouting “Free Palestine.” His very public suicide garnered the rapturous praise of the Palestinians and their supporters, who declared him a “martyr.”
Others who were less enthusiastic about Bushnell’s sacrifice wondered how this happened. What was the mental state of the dead young man, who decided to end his life in one of the most terrible ways imaginable? That Bushnell was a serving military member made the optics worse. But the full story is even more shocking.
