Disturbed Air Force serviceman Aaron Bushnell claimed to have ‘top-secret’ information on US troops fighting in Hamas tunnels the night before he set himself on fire in an anti-Israel protest, a friend said.
The 25-year-old, who served in the Air Force’s 70th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance battalion, was ‘scared’ as he told a friend that the US military was ‘killing large numbers of Palestinians.’
‘He told me on Saturday that we have troops in those tunnels, that it’s US soldiers participating in the killings,’ the confidant told the New York Post.
There is no evidence that the young servicemember had any ‘top secret’ classified clearance, and DailyMail.com has been unable to verify whether there’s any truth to the claims of what he says he saw at work.
President Biden has also frequently insisted that he has no intentions to put boots on the ground in Gaza.
Aaron Bushnell, who killed himself by setting himself on fire to protest Israel’s ongoing conflict in Gaza, claimed to have ‘top-secret’ information on US troops fighting in Hamas tunnels the night before his death
The airman filmed himself self-immolating outside the Israeli Embassy on Sunday, while repeatedly screaming ‘Free Palestine!’
A friend claimed that Bushnell was ‘scared’ as he told a friend that the US military was ‘killing large numbers of Palestinians’ in the Hamas tunnels (pictured) the night before his suicide
As a member of the intelligence wing of the Air Force, the friend claimed that ‘some of what he was processing had to do with the Israeli-Gaza conflict.’
‘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,’ they continued.
‘He told me that we had troops on the ground, you know, that were there and were killing large numbers of Palestinians.’
The US Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.
The friend, who remained anonymous, added that Bushnell seemed to be troubled and afraid in their final phone call, the night before he killed himself in an ‘extreme act of protest.’
‘There’s just too many things I don’t know, but I can tell you that the tone of his voice just had something in it that told me he was scared,’ they said.
‘I’ve never heard that tone come out of him.’
In the days since Bushnell lit himself on fire in a live-streamed video, it has emerged that he grew up in a religious cult in rural Massachusetts before shifting his attention to radical anarchist groups online.
He is said to have shared inflammatory remarks online about the ongoing conflict in Gaza, including showing support for Hamas’ brutal massacre at the Nova Music Festival on October 7.
Despite his online activity, the friend said they were surprised that he was sharing supposedly ‘top secret’ information – believing it is ‘the only time that he has ever, as far as I know, broke protocol and gave out information that he shouldn’t have.’
When he self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in DC, Bushnell streamed the moments before where he said he would ‘no longer be complicit in genocide.’
Seconds later, he was seen engulfed in flames while repeatedly screaming: ‘Free Palestine!’
Bushnell seen during his live stream, where he declared that he would ‘no longer be complicit in genocide’
Bushnell’s ‘extreme act of protest’ divided people online, with pro-Palestine groups hailing him as a martyr
But his friend said he was stunned to discover Bushnell had committed suicide, and had previously said that he was against it.
‘He said it was against God’s plan, there’s always better solutions than suicide, suicide is not going to fix anything,’ they claimed.
‘So for Aaron to have done what he did, there were things that overrode that.
‘The problems that he was looking at, he couldn’t fix. He would have made this decision to try to make it so somebody else could fix what the problem was.
‘Suicide is not something Aaron would do,’ they concluded.
When Bushnell told him of his alleged covert findings about the war, the friend said they told him to ‘follow his conscience, that’s always led him in the right direction before.’
But they didn’t think this would drive him to suicide, as the airman ‘was very analytical, he would have made this kind of a decision after putting a tremendous amount of thought into it.’
‘Aaron outwardly presents as the most calm, cool and collected person you will ever know,’ they continued.
‘You watch the video of him, and you see just how calm, cool and collected he is, and that is his normal personality.
‘The most upset we would ever see him… is he would go grab an axe and chop firewood.’
Hundreds of people gathered in front of the Israeli Embassy to collectively mourn the US airman on Tuesday night in New York City
A person holds a sign during a vigil for Bushnell
Bushnell’s military service has come under scrutiny in the days following his suicide, as questions have been raised as to how his radical beliefs online slipped under the radar.
His friend said that Bushnell ‘flipped a coin’ when he decided to join the military as he couldn’t decide between the Air Force or the Navy.
Soon after, however, he found himself struggling with following the constant rules he had to follow in the military.
‘Anybody who goes into the military, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like Aaron did and gets involved with signal intelligence-related things is going to end up in the mindset of Signal Corps or they’re going to leave,’ they said.
‘Aaron did not buy into the mindset of Signal Corps. That mindset can be best described as making little compromises to your own internal fortitude so you’re no longer the person you used to be.
‘Aaron couldn’t, that’s not within him.’
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