Tweeters describe pilot Aaron Bushnell as “America’s Bouazizi”. The name of the American soldier who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, topped the trending list in several Arab and international countries.
The clip spread like wildfire on Arab and Western social media platforms. Bloggers likened Bushnell to the young Tunisian man who burned himself in protest against the municipality's confiscation of his cart on which he was selling vegetables. He became an icon and spark of the Arab Spring.