Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Man dies days after self-immolating near Israeli consulate in Boston
The man was found with severe burns across the street from the Consulate General of Israel to New England. He died on Sept. 15, city records show.
A man who reportedly set himself on fire near the Israeli consulate in downtown Boston died four days after what he called an “extreme act of protest.”
Police responded to 19 Columbus Ave. on Sept. 11 around 8:11 p.m. for an unknown person suffering from severe burn wounds. According to a redacted police report that obscured the person’s name, accelerants were possibly detected at the scene.
Surveillance video shared by NBC10 Boston appears to show a man walking back and forth before setting himself on fire. The man was found across the street from the Consulate General of Israel to New England.
Advertisement:
The man was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries on Sept. 15, according to the redacted report.
While the police have not publicly identified the man, The Cape Cod Times reported that friends of the man involved identified him as Matt Nelson.
A death certificate filed with the City of Boston says that Matthew Nelson, 45, died on Sept. 15.
A spokesperson for the department said the investigation is still ongoing.
Man who self-immolated was reportedly a Cape Cod native
Nelson was a graduate of Barnstable High School and lived in Centerville and Hyannis for much of his life, the Times reported.
The friends also confirmed to the paper that a minute-long video posted to YouTube on Sept. 11 was of Nelson. In it, Nelson said he was “about to engage in an extreme act” to protest “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Advertisement:
The video has since been deleted by YouTube, but the video was posted on Sept. 11 on what appears to be Nelson’s Bluesky account. His bio describes himself as a “nonviolent revolutionary communist.”
“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, ensuring all Americans have equal rights and protecting the environment combined,” Nelson said. “We are slaves to capitalism and the military industrial complex. Most of us are too apathetic to care.”
Nelson goes on to call for the U.S. government to stop sending money and weapons to Israel, for Israel to “end the genocide” in Gaza, and to support the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I urge any of you who are of the same mind to call your senators and representatives and demand that they introduce and advance legislation to achieve these goals. If sitting lawmakers won’t, vote for those who will,” he said.
Another man with Mass. ties self-immolated to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza
A 25-year-old active duty Air Force member died after he set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. in February. Aaron Bushnell, of Texas, streamed his self-immolation on Twitch.
Advertisement:
Bushnell spent about five years in school on Cape Cod and attended Nauset Public Schools. He was also enrolled at Southern New Hampshire University.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com