What's behind the red pins celebrities wore at the Oscars
MARCH 11, 202412:35 PM ET

Awards shows have long been a stage for political expression, and this year's Oscars was no exception.

A notable accessory on Sunday's red carpet was a red pin featuring a hand with a black heart in the middle. Celebrities like Billie Eilish, Ramy Youssef and Mark Ruffalo wore the pins in support of Artists4Ceasefire, a group of advocates and artists that opposes the Israel-Hamas war.

Oscars 2024: A night of 'Oppenheimer,' quiet protest, and Ryan Gosling just being Ken
OSCARS 2024
Oscars 2024: A night of 'Oppenheimer,' quiet protest, and Ryan Gosling just being Ken
"The pin symbolizes collective support for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all of the hostages and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza," the group said in a statement.

Arriving to a Palestinian roadblock, the reservists were detained by PA policemen and taken to the local police station in Ramallah's twin city el-Bireh, close to the headquarters of PLO chief Yasser Arafat. The detention of the two reservists incidentally came at the same time of a funeral service Palestinian youth who had been killed by Israeli forces a few days earlier. Likewise, over 100 Palestinians has been killed in violent confrontations with Israeli security forces in the weeks prior.
According to accounts, rumors spread that Israeli undercover agents were being detained at the police station, prompting a crowd of over 1,000 to gather calling for their deaths. While Israeli intelligence got word that the reservists were being detained and a crowd was gathering, the IDF allegedly decided against a rescue operation due to the presence of PA security forces in the area. Haaretz and Maariv, The Jerusalem Post's sister publication, also reported that 13 Palestinian policemen were injured trying to prevent the mob from storming the station and conducting the lynching.
The IDF reservists were murdered by the crowd via beatings and stabbings, with one Italian news outlet later capturing the infamous photo Aziz Salha raising his blood-soaked hands to the cheering crowd. The reservists' bodies were then thrown out the window, mutilated and set on fire. The bodies were then dragged to Al-Manara Square in the city center. PA security forces, aware of the seriousness, attempted to confiscate film showing the events.