Hamas holds up US airman as ‘immortal’ after Gaza protest

JERUSALEM: Hamas on Tuesday said a US airman who died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington would “remain immortal” for his shocking anti-war protest.

Footage of the self-immolation was widely shared online, and the group said it was “an expression of the growing state of anger among the American people” over the Israeli aggression in Gaza. The airman “will remain immortal in the memory of our Palestinian people and the free people of the world, and a symbol of the spirit of global human solidarity with our people and their just cause,” Hamas said in a statement issued in English.

In the footage of Sunday’s protest, the military fatigues-wearing man declares he will “not be complicit in genocide” before dousing himself in liquid, lighting himself on fire and yelling “Free Palestine!” until he collapses. His death was announced on Monday.

Some members of US President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party are attempting to press him on his support for Israel, with Arab American voters in Michigan pledging to vote “uncommitted” or write in “Free Palestine” on their ballots in the state’s primary on Tuesday.

The White House has tried to assuage Arab and Muslim voters’ concerns in part by portraying the president as frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.