Former Hamas hostage slams PPB for awarding Palestinian writer
A former Israeli hostage, Emily damari, has criticized the Pulitzer Prize Board for awarding Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Damari,who was held captive by Hamas for over 450 days,condemned Abu Toha’s previous statements questioning the legitimacy of hostages,referring to him as “the modern-day equivalent of a Holocaust denier.” She expressed her shock and pain over the award, accusing Abu Toha of denying documented atrocities related to Hamas’s actions. The pulitzer committee defended their decision, emphasizing that Abu Toha was recognized for his essays detailing the impacts of war in Gaza. In response, Abu Toha celebrated his win, suggesting it could be a source of hope. The situation highlights the complex and sensitive nature of narratives surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Former Hamas hostage slams Pulitzer Prize Board for awarding Palestinian writer
A former Israeli hostage captured during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack slammed the Pulitzer Prize Board for awarding Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha the highest journalism award.
The former hostage, Emily Damari, called Abu Toha, who won a Pulitzer in the commentary category, “the modern-day equivalent of a Holocaust denier” for questioning whether Hamas captives were truly hostages. Damari was released in January after over 450 days in captivity.
“Imagine my shock and pain when I saw that you awarded a Pulitzer Prize to Mosab Abu Toha,” Damari said in a post on X. “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,” she added.
A spokesperson for the Pulitzer committee told Fox News that “the selection process for each award is based on a review of submitted works.” The committee said on its website that Abu Toha won for “essays on the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza that combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir to convey the Palestinian experience of more than a year and a half of war with Israel.”
“You claim to honor journalism that upholds truth, democracy, and human dignity,” she wrote. “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.”
Abu Toha celebrated the award, saying, “I have just won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Let it bring hope. Let it be a tale.” He was reportedly imitating a Palestinian poet, Refaat Alareer, who was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza in December 2023, and had written, “If I must die, let it be a tale.”
On Jan. 24, he posted about Damari on Facebook, wondering how “on Earth is this girl called a hostage?”
“This soldier who was close to the border with a city that she and her country have been occupying is called a ‘hostage,’” he added.
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In February, he called the BBC a “propaganda machine” for publishing a story about the deaths of 9-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel Bibas by Hamas’s “bare hands.”
“Shame on BBC, propaganda machine,” he wrote. “If you haven’t seen any evidence, why did you publish this? Well, that’s what you are, filthy people.”
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