A man wearing a military uniform set himself on fire on Sunday afternoon in front of the Israeli embassy located in Washington in what appeared to be a protest for the Palestinian people.
The incident was confirmed in the evening of the same day to include an active-duty airman by a spokeswoman for the United States Air Force, Ann Stefanek. Officers with the US Secret Service were able to extinguish the fire at around 1:00 p.m. The man who self-immolated was then taken to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries and is still in critical condition.
Protest at the Israeli Embassy
Fortunately, there were no staff members at the embassy who were injured as a result of the incident, and a spokeswoman, Tal Naim, said that all workers were accounted for. The suspect seemed to have filmed the incident and live-streamed it on the social media platform Twitch.
This was at the time when law enforcement authorities said they responded to the self-immolation. In the video footage, the man echoed language that the opponents of Isareli's military action in Gaza have used to describe the operation, saying that he will no longer be complicit in genocide, as per the New York Times.
The man then stood in front of the Israeli embassy's gates and set his phone down to film himself dousing his body in a clear liquid from a metal bottle. He then lit himself on fire while yelling "Free Palestine!" until he fell to the ground to his injuries.
The footage also showed law enforcement officers trying to approach the man shortly before the fire caught. One officer was also heard saying, "Can I help you, sir?" They then scrambled for more than a minute to put out the flames engulfing the individual's body.
Authorities worked to remove the video on Sunday afternoon and replaced it with a message saying that the channel violated Twitch's guidelines. It was the only video that was posted on the account, which used a Palestinian flag for its header image.
Calling Out the Israel-Hamas War
The incident could force the US Air Force into balancing caring for an individual with severe injuries with addressing political actions that go against military guidelines. The Department of Defense's policy states that service members should not engage in "partisan political activity," according to the Washington Post.
Furthermore, the department's policy tells members to "avoid interferences" that political activities imply or appear to have endorsement from military leaders. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October last year, more than 29,000 people have already been killed in the Gaza Strip.
Israel estimated that during the militant group's initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack, they killed roughly 1,200 people and took hundreds of others hostage. Since then, more than 100 have been freed in exchange for more than 200 Palestinian detainees during a November pause in fighting.
Law enforcement authorities said that during the recent incident at the Israeli embassy in Washington, an explosive ordnance disposal unit was called to the scene. This was after a suspicious vehicle that may have been linked to the individual was spotted, said The Guardian.
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