This week, Emily Damari — a British-Israeli civilian who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 471 days — issued a powerful and heart-wrenching statement condemning the Pulitzer Prize Board. Her words were not those of a politician or campaigner, but of a survivor — a woman who was shot, abducted, and dragged across the border on October 7, only to emerge over 15 months later from the shadows of Hamas captivity.

Her message was clear: awarding a Pulitzer Prize to Mosab Abu Toha is a betrayal — not just of her, but of the values the Pulitzer Prize purports to uphold.

Abu Toha, a Palestinian writer, has used his social media to cast doubt on the verified accounts of Israeli hostages. He publicly questioned whether Emily was truly a hostage, posted inflammatory content denying the murder of children such as Kfir and Ariel Bibas, and suggested that released captives — including young girls — were “killers” or complicit in violence. These are not careless tweets or literary provocations. They are part of a sustained campaign of historical distortion, moral inversion, and outright dehumanisation.

This man is not a neutral observer. He is not a journalist honouring truth. He is a voice of denialism who desecrates the lived experiences of victims and survivors of terrorism. His language mirrors that of historical revisionists — casting doubt on the existence of atrocities, erasing the identities of child victims, and mocking those who endured the unspeakable.

And yet, the Pulitzer Board chose to honour him.

This is not a matter of political disagreement. It is a matter of moral clarity. It is about whether institutions still recognise the difference between bearing witness and erasing evidence; between honouring pain and legitimising propaganda.

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📧 Write to the Pulitzer Board: [email protected]
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Let us be clear: there can be no prize for hate. No award for erasure. No honour for those who dismiss suffering.

Let’s hold the line. For truth. For dignity. For every hostage still waiting in the dark.

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Subject: Retract the Pulitzer Prize Awarded to Mosab Abu Toha

Dear Members of the Pulitzer Prize Board,

I am writing to express my deep dismay and profound disappointment at your decision to award a Pulitzer Prize to Mosab Abu Toha, a writer who has publicly denied and belittled the suffering of Israeli hostages and the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.

This award is not a matter of literary merit—it is a moral failure.

Abu Toha has openly questioned the fact of Israeli captivity, mocked survivors, and denied the murder of Israeli civilians, including babies and children. His social media posts diminish verified crimes against humanity and promote a narrative of erasure. This is not courageous journalism. It is denialism, pure and simple.

By recognising such a voice, the Pulitzer Board risks aligning itself with a tradition of atrocity denial, rather than upholding the journalistic values of truth, justice, and human dignity.

Please consider the words of Emily Damari, a British/Israeli civilian held hostage by Hamas for nearly 500 days. She was tortured, starved, and separated from the outside world—while Mosab Abu Toha questioned her very existence as a hostage. Awarding him your prize is not only a cruel insult to Emily, but to every victim of Hamas terror, and every person who believes in the sanctity of truth.

I respectfully urge you to rescind this award. Doing so would not be an act of censorship, but an act of moral clarity.

There must be no prize for hate. No honour for denial. No legitimacy for those who erase the suffering of victims.

Yours sincerely,