RSS
‘Have You No Shame?’: Pro-Israel Hollywood Advocacy Group Urges Celebs to Stop Wearing Ceasefire Pins Ahead of Oscars
Nicola Coughlan at Time 100 Next on October 09, 2024 at Chelsea Piers in New York City. Photo: IMAGO/MediaPunch via Reuters Connect
A pro-Israel advocacy organization comprised of influential Hollywood figures has challenged members of the entertainment and media industry to stop wearing red pins from Artists4Ceasefire that show support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday.
A collective known as The Brigade published an open letter on Monday night that addressed Artists4Ceasefire and supporters of its enamel pins, which depict a red palm of a hand with a heart in its center.
The red palm symbolizes Palestinian solidarity, but it also became the symbol of the notorious lynching of two Israeli military reservists, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yosef Avrahami, in the West Bank city of Ramallah in October 2000. One of their killers, Aziz Salha, appeared at the window of the police station delightedly displaying his blood-stained palms to the appreciative mob gathered outside following the murder of the two Israelis.
The red palm symbol has since been used by anti-Israel protesters to criticize Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas terrorists who orchestrated a massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Celebrities who have sported the Artists4Ceasefire pins at previous press events and award ceremonies, including last year’s Oscars, include Mark Ruffalo, Nicola Coughlan, Ramy Youssef, Ava DuVernay, Billie Eilish, and her brother Finneas O’Connell.
In their open letter on Monday night, The Brigade — comprised of talent, publicists, producers, writers, marketers, agents, analysts, lawyers, and artists — noted the similarly between the red palm symbol used by Artists4Ceasefire and the 2000 lynching.
“In 2000, Palestinian terrorists in Ramallah lynched two innocent Israelis, ripped them apart limb by limb, and held up their blood-soaked hands to a cheering mob. That infamous image is now your ‘ceasefire’ badge. Is this ignorance? Or is this deliberate, calculated malice?” wrote The Brigade. The group described the red hand pin as “no symbol of peace” but instead “the emblem of Jewish bloodshed.”
The group blasted Artists4Ceasefire for asking celebrities to wear the pin but more specifically the timing of its campaign. The anti-Israel group urged celebrities to showcase their pin on Feb. 20, the same day Hamas returned the murdered bodies of Ariel Bibas, 4, and Kfir Bibas, 10 months, to Israel. The young brothers were brutally murdered by Hamas in November 2023 during their captivity and their bodies were held captive for more than 500 days.
“On Feb. 20, the same day the world learned 10-month-old Kfir Bibas and his 4-year-old brother Ariel were strangled to death by their terrorist captors in Gaza, you doubled down-urging celebrities to proudly wear your bloodstained red hand pin. Have you no shame?” the statement asked.
The Brigade then directly addressed members of the Hollywood industry who plan on wearing the pin in the future, including at the Oscars on Sunday. “Would you proudly wear the emblem of a lynching?” The Brigade asked them. “Would you parade the symbol of people who strangled babies with their bare hands? Because that is what the red hand represents. To those who wore it without knowing – now you know. To those who knew it and wore it anyway — we see you and we will not be silent.”
The open letter also condemned Hamas’s “grotesque, sadistic ceasefire tactics,” and how the US-designated terrorist organization “executed Israeli captives AFTER a ceasefire was reached.” The letter also talked about hostages returning to Israel “on the brink of death, frail, bruised, and starved,” and how Hamas “traded mutilated corpses while laughing in the faces of grieving families.”
Artists4Ceasefire explained the symbolize of its pin in a statement on its website: “The red background [is] to symbolize the urgency of the call to save lives. The orange hand conveys the beautiful community of people from all backgrounds that have come together in support of centering our shared humanity. The heart being cradled in the center of the hand is an invitation for us to lead with our hearts, always, to lead with love.”
Read the full letter from The Brigade below:
To the Red Hand Supporters,
We turned the other cheek when you pinned a symbol of Jewish murder to your awards lapels.
We took the high road when you cried for a ceasefire that already existed before Hamas shattered it on October 7th.
But today, we will not be silent.
That pin is no symbol of peace. It is the emblem of Jewish bloodshed.
In 2000, Palestinian terrorists in Ramallah lynched two innocent Israelis, ripped them apart limb by limb, and held up their blood-soaked hands to a cheering mob. That infamous image is now your “ceasefire” badge.
And on the very day it was discovered that the Bibas babies—innocent Jewish children—were strangled to death by the terrorist’s bare hands, you asked Hollywood to wear it with pride.
Is this ignorance?
Or is this deliberate, calculated malice?
It’s not peace.
You Claim to See Humanity on Both Sides. Yet You…
Ignore the facts surrounding the historic barbaric October 7 terror attack on Israel
Push your anti-Israel narrative even after Israel agreed to ceasefires with Hamas AND Hezbollah.
Refuse to condemn Hamas’ grotesque, sadistic ceasefire tactics.
Did you speak up when Hamas:
– Returned hostages on the brink of death, frail, bruised, and starved?
– Executed Israeli captives AFTER a ceasefire was reached?
– Traded mutilated corpses while laughing in the faces of grieving families?
*Actors, Actresses, Filmmakers and people of our Hollywood Community, Read This Before You Wear That Pin Again* Would you proudly wear the emblem of a lynching?
Would you parade the symbol of people who strangled babies with their bare hands?
Because that is what the red hand represents.
To those who wore it without knowing—now you know.
To those who knew and wore it anyway—we see you and we will not be silent.
Members of the Brigade
The post ‘Have You No Shame?’: Pro-Israel Hollywood Advocacy Group Urges Celebs to Stop Wearing Ceasefire Pins Ahead of Oscars first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.