A 26-year-old airman on leave from his overseas duty station is going on a hunger strike outside the White House to protest the war in Gaza — a move he said was inspired by the self-immolation death of another airman in February.
Senior Airman Larry Hebert, an integrated avionics journeyman from New Hampshire currently stationed at Naval Station Rota in Spain, began the hunger strike at midnight April 1, he told Military.com in a Monday interview. Hebert, who has served for six years, plans to continue the hunger strike — limiting himself to water and a juice supplement — for as long as he physically can.
“I don't have a stop or an end for it right now,” Hebert told Military.com in a phone interview. “I'm going to go until my body cannot go any longer or we get the cease-fire and the end of unconditional aid to Israel.”
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Hebert, who has been standing in front of the White House with a sign that reads “Active-Duty Airman Refuses to Eat While Gaza Starves,” marks the latest public protest of an airman in response to the violence unleashed on Gaza amid the Israel and Hamas war.
Senior Airman Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active-duty airman from Whitman, Massachusetts, walked up to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., in February; doused himself with accelerant; and proceeded to light his body and Air Force uniform on fire. He died from the injuries.
Bushnell…
