Here's The Story Behind Blood Hands Button Worn By Lefty Celebs

Billie Eilish and Mark Ruffalo sported Red Hand buttons at Oscars

The Israeli government and other critics are calling out celebrities wearing what they believe is a Palestinian "symbol of bloodlust" that was canonized in its culture from a bloody lynching almost 25 years ago.

Singer Billie Eilish, her brother Finneas and Mark Ruffalo were among the many stars calling for a cease-fire in the Middle East who sported a pin with a red hand symbol at the Oscars on Sunday evening. 

To those who wore the red hand pin at the #Oscars:

This is what every Israeli and Palestinian thinks of when he sees a red hand: the lynching of 2 Israelis by Palestinians in 2000 in a police station.

The murderers drenched their hands in their victims' blood, celebrating… pic.twitter.com/d8Keq5yf0j

— Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) March 11, 2024

In October 2000, two IDF reservists, Yossi Avrahami and Vadim Nurzhitz, were lynched by a massive mob in Ramallah, West Bank, after they made a wrong turn in the Palestinian Authority-controlled region. After rumors spread about their whereabouts at a police station, around 1,000 Palestinians gathered around the station. 

One particular image from the carnage became infamous when one of the killers, Aziz Salha, waved his bloodied hands to the crowd from the police station's window after dozens broke in. 

According to the Times of Israel, Salha later explained that the Palestinians present were "in a craze to see blood." As he waved his hands, the Palestinian mob cheered: "Allahu Akbar," which means "God is great" in Arabic. 

The mob then threw the bodies out of the station and desecrated them.