Aaron Bushnell, the US airman who set himself ablaze outside the Israeli embassy earlier this week, claimed he had secret information about the US army’s role in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. He told his friend, according to a report by the New York Post that US troops were fighting in Hamas tunnels under Gaza.
Bushnell committed self-immolation in an “extreme act of protest” against Israel while chanting ‘Free Palestine’ and saying that he will not be complicit in genocide.
Bushnell served in the Air Force’s 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Wing. A day before his death he bragged to his friend that he had “top-secret clearance’’ for military intelligence data.
“He told me on Saturday that we have troops in those tunnels, that it’s US soldiers participating in the killings. His actual job involves the processing of intelligence data. Some of what he was processing had to do with the Israeli Gaza conflict,” the friend was quoted as saying by the New York Post.
“One of the things he told me is that coming across his desk … was the US military was involved in the genocides going on in Palestine. He told me that we had troops on the ground, you know, that were there and were killing large numbers of Palestinians. I can tell you that the tone of his voice just had something in it that told me he was scared,” the friend further added.
The White House has repeatedly said it will not put US troops on the ground in Gaza but US Special Operations forces are now in Israel to help find hostages, including Americans, taken by Hamas after the October 7 attacks.
The troops are also helping Israeli soldiers in Gaza with strategies to find Hamas members hiding in underground tunnels.
The troops are not doing combat roles, as per a report by the New York Times.
The Air Force confirmed Bushnell’s job title was Innovation Services Technician. But they didn’t say what level of security clearance he had.
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