Pulitzer winner branded Israeli hostages ‘killers’ in social media tirades

From Jewish News and Honest Reporting

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.

This is Emily (one of our own) writing to the Pulitzer Prize board today. 

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

In another post on 3 February, Toha dismissed Agam Berger, an Israeli violinist and former Gaza border scout, as a “killer” after she attended her sister’s Air Force graduation. Berger, 28, was also kidnapped on 7 October and held in darkness for 482 days, where she was reportedly forced to convert and stripped of basic dignity.

On 21 February, Toha appeared to cast doubt on Israeli assertion that Hamas terrorists murdered two red-haired siblings, nine-month-old Kfir and four-year-old Ariel Bibas, with “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.”

Abu Toha’s rush to cleanse Hamas of their brutal murder is tantamount to justifying it.

Other posts by Abu Toha constitute a clear violation of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

When Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimeh was arrested by Swiss police in Zurich, Abu Toha blamed “the Zionists,” echoing antisemitic tropes about Jewish control over state bodies, government, and the media.

The exposure of Abu Toha’s posts prompted HonestReporting executive director Gil Hoffman to call for the prize to be rescinded:

The Pulitzer Prize is the top award in journalism and should not be blemished by bestowing it to a man who repeatedly twisted facts,” Hoffman said. “Abu Toha justifies abducting civilians from their homes, spreads fake news, and calls lighting a Menorah on Hanukkah antisemitism. That doesn’t sound prizeworthy to me.

Hoffman’s words are all the more poignant given that last year, HonestReporting campaigned against giving the Pulitzer Prize to photographers who crossed the border from Gaza with terrorists on October 7 and broke both physical and ethical boundaries.

When Reuters won the prize for international photography, there were no pictures from that day in the winning bid. Reuters later confirmed that images obtained from infiltrators were deliberately excluded so the win would not be marred.

Meanwhile, Israeli Consul General in New York, Ofir Akunis, told Fox News Digital that “these posts are an absolute disgrace, and this man should be condemned for his comments, not given a Pulitzer Prize. Reading these posts should make any decent person absolutely sick to their stomach.”

The Pulitzer board said Toha was honoured for essays that “combine deep reporting with the intimacy of memoir to convey the Palestinian experience”.

When asked by Jewish News whether it planned to retract the award in light of the posts, a spokesperson declined to comment directly. Instead, the board said,“The Pulitzer Board is committed to recognising excellence in reporting, literature, history and culture, and the selection process for each award is based on a review of the submitted works.”