Former Israeli hostage Emily Damari, released from Gaza after spending nearly 500 days in Hamas captivity, has publicly condemned the Pulitzer Prize board for awarding one of their prestigious honors to Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha, who previously denied her status as a hostage and called Israeli hostages "killers."
Damari issued a direct statement addressing the Pulitzer board after they awarded Abu Toha a prize on Monday for his essays published in the New Yorker detailing the Gaza war.
In her powerful statement shared on X, Damari wrote: "Dear Members of the @PulitzerPrizes board, 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 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."
Damari continued describing her ordeal in captivity: "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."
Abu Toha had posted about Damari on social media on January 24, 2025, writing: "How on earth is this girl called a hostage? (And this is the case of most 'hostages'). This is Emily Damari, a 28 UK-Israeli soldier that Hamas detailed on 10/7… So this girl is 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?'"
Dear Members of the @PulitzerPrizes board,
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…
— Emily Damari (@EmilyDamari1) May 8, 2025
Damari directly referenced this post in her statement, noting: "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?'"
29-year-old Damari suffered a gunshot wound to her hand during the October 7 attack, resulting in the loss of two fingers. Hamas terrorists then forcibly removed her from her home and held her in Gaza for 471 days. Damari endured severe pain for 18 months from an untreated wound resulting from inadequate medical care while in captivity, with her mother stating that Hamas "sewed her up like a pin cushion."
In her statement challenging the Pulitzer board, Damari also noted that Abu Toha "has denied the murder of the Bibas family. He has questioned whether Agam Berger was truly a hostage," emphasizing: "These are not word games - they are outright denials of documented atrocities."
Fox News Digital previously reported that Abu Toha has expressed skepticism about forensic evidence indicating that the Bibas children – 9-month-old Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel – were killed by their captors, and highlighted that in a February 3, 2025 post, Abu Toha wrote about released hostage Agam Berger: "The Israeli 'hostage' Agam Berger, who was released days ago participates in her sister's graduation from an Israeli Air Force officers' course. These are the ones the world wants to share sympathy for, killers who join the army and have family in the army! These are the ones whom CNN, BBC and the likes humanize in articles and TV programs and news bulletins."
Damari concluded her statement with a pointed challenge to the Pulitzer board: "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."
The Pulitzer Prize committee has not responded to Damari's statement as of this reporting.
