• “My name is Matt Nelson and I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” said Nelson before he took his own life.
• Nelson’s case is the third reported instance since October 7 of an American self-immolating to protest the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and US complicity.
Matt Nelson, a pro-Palestine activist, has reportedly self-immolated in protest against US complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza and its impact on the Palestinian people.
Prior to his self-immolation On Wednesday, a video appeared on YouTube where Nelson criticised America for its support of Israel’s violence and siege on the Gaza Strip.
“My name is Matt Nelson and I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” he says in the video.
“The protest l’m about to engage in is a call to our government to stop supplying Israel with the money and weapons it uses to imprison and murder innocent Palestinians, to pressure Israel to end the genocide in Gaza, and to support the ICC indictment of Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government,” he said.
“We call ourselves the greatest nation in history yet we spend more on weapons of war than we do on educating our children helping the homeless and ensuring all Americans have equal rights and protecting the environment combined.”
He left his viewers with the following words echoing:
“Take the power back [and] free Palestine.”
Nelson’s case is the third reported instance since October 7 of an American self-immolating outside an Israeli embassy or consulate to protest the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and US complicity.
In December 2023, an unidentified protester set herself on fire outside the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta. Officials described it as an “act of extreme political protest,” with a Palestinian flag found nearby.
On February 25 of this year, Aaron Bushnell, a US Air Force member, self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. He died from his injuries after being hospitalised, shouting “Free Palestine” until he could no longer speak.
