Over 100 students and community members gathered outside Ohio State’s ROTC building Friday to honor an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force who self-immolated in protest of the Israel-Hamas war Sunday.
The 25-year-old man from San Antonio, Texas, Aaron Bushnell, lit himself on fire outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., as he declared he “will no longer be complicit in genocide.” The gathering was hosted by 13 organizations — including Rising Tide OSU, Students for Justice in Palestine and Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists according to an Instagram post by Rising Tide OSU— aiming to “uphold the Palestinian struggle, memorialize those martyred by Zionism and condemn the imperialist system.”
Bushnell was dressed in his U.S. Air Force uniform and “calmly described his intention to engage in an extreme act of protest against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza,” according to the New York Times. He then poured a “flammable liquid” over his head, “pulled his camoufla...