The Pulitzer Prize committee has done a bang-up job this year of preserving its credibility and prestige. It gave ProPublica a Pulitzer for its false reporting on Georgia abortion laws, and to an anti-Trump former Washington Post journalist (in fairness, is there any other kind of WaPo journo?).
And it gave a Pulitzer to a terrorist sympathizer who disputed claims of Israeli hostages and defended Hamas' actions on October 7, 2023. That man is Mosab Abu Toha, and Israeli woman and former hostage is shaming the Pulitzer committee for giving this guy an award.
Dear Members of the @PulitzerPrizes board,
— Emily Damari (@EmilyDamari1) May 8, 2025
My name is Emily Damari. I was held hostage in Gaza for over 500 days.
On the morning of October 7, I was at home in my small studio apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas terrorists burst in, shot me and dragged me across the border…
The entire post reads:
On the morning of October 7, I was at home in my small studio apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas terrorists burst in, shot me and dragged me across the border into Gaza. I was one of 251 men, women, children, and elderly people kidnapped that day from their beds, their homes, and a music festival.
For almost 500 days I lived in terror. I was starved, abused, and treated like I was less than human. I watched friends suffer. I watched hope dim. And even now, after returning home, I carry that darkness with me - because my best friends, Gali and Ziv Berman are still being held in the Hamas terror tunnels.
So imagine my shock and pain when I saw that you awarded a Pulitzer Prize to Mosab Abu Toha.
This is a man who, in January, questioned the very fact of my captivity. He posted about me on Facebook and asked, 'How on earth is this girl called a hostage?' He has denied the murder of the Bibas family. He has questioned whether Agam Berger was truly a hostage. These are not word games - they are outright denials of documented atrocities.
You claim to honor journalism that upholds truth, democracy, and human dignity. And yet you have chosen to elevate a voice that denies truth, erases victims, and desecrates the memory of the murdered.
Do you not see what this means? Mosab Abu Toha is not a courageous writer. He is the modern-day equivalent of a Holocaust denier. And by honoring him, you have joined him in the shadows of denial.
This is not a question of politics. This is a question of humanity. And today, you have failed it.
Shame on the Pulitzer committee.
And here's more from Jewish News:
A Palestinian writer, recently awarded a Pulitzer Prize, has sparked outrage for repeatedly describing former Israeli hostages as “killers” and pushing disproven Hamas claims about the 7 October attacks.
Mosab Abu Toha, honoured for his New Yorker essays on Gaza, used social media throughout 2025 to mock, vilify and question the suffering of those abducted by Hamas.
In several posts uncovered by watchdog Honest Reporting, the poet denied torture, labelled female hostages “killers”, and described forensic reports of murdered children as 'propaganda'.
'How on earth is this girl called a hostage?' he posted on 24 January about Emily Damari, a 29-year-old dual UK-Israeli national. The soldier was kidnapped on 7 October from a Kibbutz Be’eri, shot in the hand, and held for 471 days. She lost two fingers and endured a festering wound treated by Hamas 'like a pin cushion', according to her mother.
Damari was in her home, innocent, when Hamas took her hostage. Toha called her a killer. And was rewarded for it.
The so-called "human rights organizations" have utterly failed to defend the people of Israel, not to mention the hostages. Shameful and disgraceful. The world stands with you, Emily.
— Vivid.🇮🇱 (@VividProwess) May 8, 2025
Most human rights organizations are Left-wing fronts and utter jokes.
Great post, Emily. Sorry for what you went through. But kudos for calling out the sham that is the Pulitzer prize these days.
— Jack Bauer after dark 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JackBauerAD) May 8, 2025
Takes guts.
@PulitzerPrizes has irreparably soiled its own reputation.
— Marla Hohner (@marlahohner) May 8, 2025
Yes, they have.
The @PulitzerPrizes are administered by @Columbia University.
— Marc Leibowitz (@Marc_Leibowitz) May 8, 2025
Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism oversees the journalism categories, while the Pulitzer Prize Board, composed of "prominent journalists and academics", makes final decisions.
No one should be surprised...
We are not surprised.
SHAME ON YOU @PulitzerPrizes https://t.co/jo4TMNHezo
— MichaelRapaport (@MichaelRapaport) May 8, 2025
They have no shame.
Simply another one in the long list of mentally corrupt and depraved .org. @PulitzerPrizes established in @ColumbiaUniver.
— Chris SPITZER (@ChrisSPITZER7) May 8, 2025
Leftism is a mental illness. https://t.co/IK9pEoJwh3
Yes, it is.
The fact that @EmilyDamari1 had to point out what should be an obvious balls up speaks volumes. It’s not ‘edgy’ to have a rape and terrorist apologist nominated for one of the arts greatest prizes. It’s just wrong. https://t.co/mNumRdZckr
— Simon Petar (@simonpetar) May 8, 2025
It's not edgy or noble. It's dispicable.
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