Aaron Bushnell: Very Emotional Vigil Interview at Israeli Embassy (~4 min video and transcript)
Please watch/read
Jenn here.
Today, I reported from the Israeli embassy in DC where active duty airman Aaron Bushnell sacrificed himself because he could no longer be complicit in the genocide of Palestinians.
It was extremely emotional to be there where the act occured. I have much more reporting to share with you, but I wanted to get this interview with Ali to you right away.
It’s around 4 minutes long and I hope you watch and share it <3
Transcript:
[Ali] My name is Ali Khan. I live in Arlington Virginia.
We are in front of the embassy of Israel, a location where Aaron Bushnell died on Sunday.
He had to light himself on fire to prove a point for his cause and he gave up his life for that cause.
A war still going on. There's people still dying in Gaza.
And the United States has not called for a ceasefire yet.
Yes, it is a genocide at the hands of the Israeli government. The United States is complicit in this genocide.
Aaron's sacrifice has got the attention of the people of the United States, the leadership of this country, the attention of the world, that this genocide needs to stop now.
The people of this country have to burn themselves and light themselves on fire to get the attention of the government that is not paying attention to the will of the people.
[Jenn Dize] Ali, Look behind you. This is the spot where Aaron sacrificed himself. What does it feel like to be at this spot?
[Ali] There's a lot of emotions coming up. Especially, you know, if somebody just like lit themselves on fire alive at the site.
It's like…I've seen the video. I've seen the full video. I've seen the footage of the full video. So just standing in that place is...is like there's a lot of emotions coming up.
[Jenn] When you think about the people who don't understand or who think that there's not a genocide, or who think that Israel is in the right, what runs through your mind?
[Ali] It's mostly people that don't know what the facts on the ground or that don't know the other side of the story. There's no spokesperson for the other side and these people are just suffering in silence.
There's no one to speak for them.
[Jenn] What is happening? Talk about how many women and children have been murdered – how many women and children are suffering – men, women, children – everybody.
[Ali] Most of the people in Gaza are displaced now. There's about 30,000 people that have died. And there's thousands – tens of thousands of people that are injured.
There's kids without parents. There's people – there's Palestinian American people in the United States that have lost multiple family members – 4, 8, 10, 12 family members – 20 family members that have died in this war, and there's no compassion for them.
[Jenn What do you want people to know who are thinking about this who do care. Who are thinking, what can I do from home? Maybe they're around DC. You're here at a vigil. There are people behind us who are here at a vigil. People are bringing flowers They wanna know what they can do. Maybe they're not in DC. What can people do to bring awareness?
[Ali] What people can do is is call up your congressman. Call up your senator. Let them know what you think. Ask them to call for a ceasefire now.
Tell them you're not going to vote for them if they don't pay attention to the will of the people. That's the only way to put pressure on these congressmen to do anything about it and then go out and protest. Join the protests.
[Jenn] Anything else that you really, you wanna get off of your chest? You mentioned a few times, and we've been talking that this is very emotional for everybody – it's hard to put into words – but just anything else you wanna say?
[Ali] It's really concerning that one of our active duty men had to light himself on fire alive to get the attention of the world for this cause and I think this is a tipping point, which I'm hoping Joe Biden will listen and executives in the DOD at the Pentagon will listen and pay attention to this and and start making changes and we can reach a ceasefire soon.
[Jenn] Thank you so much.
[Ali] Thank you!
More reporting is coming tomorrow! I have a lot to share with you. This was quite a day - emotional and moving and a lot. I agree with Ali. This is a tipping point - it has to be.
#CeasefireNow
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Jenn