Senior Airman Larry Hebert is on day three of his hunger strike outside the White House, where he has been holding a sign that reads “Active Duty Airman Refuses to Eat While Gaza Starves.” “It’s just completely wrong and immoral for civilians to be starved and bombed and targeted in any manner,” says Hebert.

Hebert said, “I was deeply touched when I saw that Aaron Bushnell took his own life  at the Israeli Embassy for the people of Gaza and knew that I had to raise my voice in  opposition to the U.S. government supplying Israel the bombs and rockets to commit  genocide in Gaza. Active-duty members are afraid to speak out and I hope that my  example and that of others, like Aaron, can change that.”

“What really infuriated me was the silence thereafter. … I don’t know a single member of our government or leaders in the military that really spoke on Aaron, even uttered his name,” says Hebert, who is now looking to leave the military after learning more about U.S. foreign policy. “I can’t see myself continuing service.”


In mid-March, Senior Airman Larry Hebert, age 26, from rural New  Hampshire and a member of Veterans For Peace, took authorized leave  from his assignment at Naval Station Rota, Spain to participate in  demonstrations demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to visit  Congressional offices to press for stopping weapons shipments to Israel,  which violate several U.S. laws.

With six years in the Air Force, Hebert joins many hundreds of current and retired military and civilian government officials urging U.S. leaders to stop fueling Israel’s war that has killed well over 32,000 Palestinians, most of whom are children. Starvation and disease are rapidly becoming as deadly as the war itself in the area Israel has bombed to rubble.