US Airman self-immolates in front of Israeli embassy.

 

Police at the site of the immolation. CBS News/Getty.

An US Airman has self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy. CBS News. The airman, dressed in his uniform, set up a camera and broadcast the incident on Twitch, a streaming platform. He said that he wouldn't be complicit in "genocide" and screamed "free Palestine" as he was burning. The video was removed from Twitch. The man is now in critical condition and is being treated for burns.

⚡ A US soldier in his uniform set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington to protest against Israel's war in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/JSxiCqwSpu

— War Watch (@WarWatchs) February 25, 2024

My Comment:

Self-immolation has a long history in protest and most of the time it goes ignored. I can only think of two cases of where it actually worked. The most famous is the case of  Thích Quảng Đức, a monk that burned himself to death to protest the government of South Vietnam in 1963. The image of his death was probably one of the best photographs ever taken and was even used as an album cover for a Rage Against the Machine album. 

Malcom Browne/AP.

The other one that hand an impact was the death of Tarek El-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi, a normal man who had had it with the government of Tunisia harassing him and his business. His death inspired both a revolution in Tunisia but was also used as inspiration for the Arab Spring. In retrospect his death caused thousands of deaths and indirectly caused civil wars, terrorism and widespread misery, even if Tunisia ended up better off. 

But those are the only two men that have been notable in terms of self-immolation. Wikipedia has a list of self-immolations and it's depressingly long and if it wasn't for the page I would have never heard of any of them. In the vast majority of cases self-immolation just results in a dead or severely wounded for life protester. 

I am guessing that will be the case here. A man lighting himself on fire is not going to change anyone's mind about the war between Israel and Hamas. Indeed, the sides are so entrenched I don't think there is much that could change anyone's minds. And the pro-Hamas people are pretty fickle, they might support this man for a little while but they will very quickly move on. 

What gets me is that if this guy survives he's going to be scared or even disabled for life. His wounds will probably never fully heal and he will look terrible, assuming he even survives. And for what? A false belief that Hamas isn't getting what it deserves? I mean, I can understand being upset about US foreign policy. But I sure haven't burned myself because I am upset with sending money to Ukraine. 

I would also say that the difference between the Vietnam and Tunisia cases is that people were deeply upset about other actions the government was doing. The people that latched onto the deaths of these two men were inspired because their lives were being negatively affected the same way they were. Plus, the Vietnam photo was memetic. 

That's not the case here. The Israel-Hamas war is just the outrage of the day and the media cycle will move on. Indeed, the focus of the media has switched back to Ukraine, Israel isn't the lead story anymore. And there wasn't an iconic image here compared to the one in Vietnam. 

Much of the commentary about this has been highly critical as well. Many are making fun of the guy for trying to kill himself over Israel, of all things. Indeed, many people think this is a solution, not a problem, given how annoying pro-Hamas people have been since the war broke out... I'm not exactly sure how those folks are reacting to this incident but I am guessing it will be mostly met with indifference.