What the hell is going on?

Reactions to a U.S. serviceman setting himself on fire for Gaza, a "Friends" meme about Hamas, the British politician who won an election after running a "pro-Palestine" campaign, and more.

Joshua Hoffman

Mar 03, 2024

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You can also listen to the podcast version of this essay on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

Editor’s Note: “What the hell is going on?” is a new weekly series in which we bring you the most bizarre, outlandish, and surreal developments from around the Jewish world during the past week.

Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old serviceman of the United States Air Force, died after setting himself on fire outside the front gate of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.

Immediately prior to the live-streamed act, Bushnell said that he was protesting against “what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers” and declared that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide,” after which he doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire.

As he burned, Bushnell repeatedly shouted: “Free Palestine!”

As one social media user commented: “He is a human analogy for the Palestinian cause.”1

Zionist activist Hodaya Stark said: “If you are hurting over what is happening in Gaza, there is a lot you can do that doesn’t include ending your life permanently. Not only that, but I assure you that you can make a bigger difference for the Palestinian people on this earth than off of it.”2

Another social media user wrote, “People will try to smear Aaron Bushnell in the coming days as mentally ill. He didn’t sacrifice his life because he was mentally ill. He did it because he was morally outraged. We all should be.”3 To which another social media user replied: “I really think big Twitter accounts should not be encouraging their followers to commit suicide for Gaza.”4

Ben Shapiro, the famed political activist, wrote: “Call me controversial, but I think that as a general rule, you should not cheer on disturbed anarchists burning themselves to death to protest a non-existent genocide on behalf of an actual genocidal terrorist group.”5

Speaking of “freeing Palestine,” there have been more “Free Palestine” and pro-Hamas protests in Western cities than in the entire Arab world, combined, by far.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, where Israel is supposed to be its archenemy, only a relatively small number of demonstrations have been staged since October 7th to show solidarity with Gazans, and in most cases, they were minor state-sponsored rallies.

Iranians’ reluctance to take to the streets is due to the fact that most Iranians refuse to play their government’s game, experts explain. According to Raz Zimmt, an Iran scholar at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, “The Palestinian cause is an obsession of the regime, not of the people.”6

Kind of sounds like U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, too. Am I wrong?

Funny enough, at a pro-Palestinian rally in London yesterday, a British man with a heavy British accent told the crowd: “We are not voting for Biden!”

“No, mate, you are not,” wrote British-Palestinian peace activist John Aziz. “You are British.”7

Last week, the U.S. government opened an investigation into Finkelstein Metals, an unprecedented legal proceeding that could dramatically impact the entire trade relationship between the U.S. and Israel, and potentially lead to sanctions against this Israeli company, which is the only manufacturer of a crucial Iron Dome component.

“Punishing Israel’s Iron Dome missile manufacturer is a calculated effort to sabotage Israel’s push to become independent in munitions production, so Biden can keep his leverage to pressure Israel to accept suicidal deals,” wrote law professor Eugene Kontorovich.8

George Galloway is making yet another return to the British Parliament after he won the Rochdale election, basing his campaign on “pro-Palestine.”

“This is for Gaza,” he said in his victory speech.

Mind you, Galloway has been photographed with Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas, who recently said: “We should hold on to the victory that took place on October 7th and build upon it.”

U.K. MP Galloway Probed for Declaring Bradford an 'Israel-free Zone' - Haaretz Com - Haaretz.com — George Galloway (left) with Ismail Haniyeh

Over in Glasgow, Scotland, police had to be stationed at the entrance of the Radisson Blu hotel, where athletes were registering for the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

No Israeli athletes were due to compete, but pro-Palestinian demonstrators there said they are angry that Israel was not banned anyway.

Filmmakers, including Israeli Yuval Abraham, recently debuted their documentary, “No Other Land” — about a Palestinian who refuses the “forced displacement” of his people by Israel’s military in the West Bank.

At the 74th Berlin International Film Festival a few days ago, “No Other Land” won two awards, so Abraham went on-stage with Palestinian activist Basel Adra and said:

“We are standing in front of you now, me and Basel are the same age. I am Israeli, Basel is Palestinian, and in two days we will go back to a land where we are not equal. I am living under civilian law, Basel is under military law.”
“We live 30 minutes from one another, but I have voting rights. Basel does not have voting rights. I am free to move where I want in this land. Basel, like millions of Palestinians, is locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, it has to end.”

A few days afterward, Abraham shared this 36-second monologue on social media, he tweeted that: “A right-wing Israeli mob came to my family’s home yesterday to search for me, threatening close family members who fled to another town in the middle of the night. I am still getting death threats and had to cancel my flight home.”

What exactly did he expect? That Israelis, in the middle of an existential war that Israel is fighting, would not be irate about you slandering our country and then bragging about it on social media?

The distribution of humanitarian aid continues to be a point of contention in the Gaza Strip, with many people and groups baselessly blaming Israel.

“High risk malnutrition continues to rise,” the notorious organization UNRWA wrote on X. “1 in 6 children in north Gaza are severely malnourished. This is a man made disaster.”

To which one social media user replied: “Trucks of food are waiting to be distributed, but UNRWA haven’t got the staff to unload and distribute. One of the many downsides of hiring terrorists is that they get busy and die during anti-terror campaigns, creating staffing problems.”9

One meme describes the situation perfectly:

Another graphic making the rounds across social media depicts a proverbial conversation between Israel and the Palestinians, which goes as such:

Israel: I want peace with you.
Palestinians: I want peace without you.
Israel: Not even negotiation?
Palestinians: Never.
Israel: You aren’t really in a position to…
Palestinians: No peace, fight to the death!
Israel: Fine, have it your way.
Palestinians: No!!! Ceasefire now!
Israel: Okay, but you have to cease fire too.
Palestinians: No.
Israel: …

An antisemitic mob at the University of California, Berkeley forced the evacuation of Jewish students from an event where an Israel Defense Forces reservist was speaking.

Roughly 200 protestors surrounded the building where the event took place and tried to push their way in, shattering a door and several windows, while chanting “Intifada!” Three Jewish students were injured, while another attendee said he was called a “dirty Jew” and a Nazi.10

But rather than addressing anything specific about the protesters’ Jewish targets, the university’s chancellor, executive vice chancellor, and provost described the incident as an attack on the “fundamental values of the university, which are also essential to maintain and nurture open inquiry and an inclusive civil society, the bedrock of a genuinely democratic nation.”