Emily Damari says Pulitzer Board ‘failed humanity’ over prize to writer who described hostages as ‘killers’
Emily Damari, a civilian when she was kidnapped by Hamas, speaks out as prize board insists accolade was awarded on basis of submitted works
A civilian abducted from a kibbutz by Hamas has accused the Pulitzer Prize Board of “failing humanity” for awarding a top honour to a writer who described hostages as “killers”.
Emily Damari, 29, was shot, dragged from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, and held in Gaza for 471 days.
Today, she issued a scathing public statement condemning the decision to honour Palestinian poet and essayist Mosab Abu Toha, who had questioned her being described as a “hostage”, even though she was snatched from her home on Kibbutz Kar Aza while not serving, and described other hostages as “killers”.
“Dear Members of the @PulitzerPrizes Board, my name is Emily Damari. I was held hostage in Gaza for nearly 500 days,” she wrote. “On the morning of 7 October, 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.”
Damari directly addressed Abu Toha’s social media post about her from 24 January, in which he questioned her status as a hostage: “How on earth is this girl called a hostage?” he wrote, alongside a photo of Damari. “This soldier who was close to the border with a city that she and her country have been occupying is called a ‘hostage’?”
In her statement, Damari said: “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.”
She noted he questioned the Israeli account of 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.”
Damari, a dual UK-Israeli national, lost two fingers after being shot during the attack. Her mother has previously said Hamas “sewed her up like a pin cushion” after providing only crude medical treatment.
“You claim to honour journalism that upholds truth, democracy, and human dignity,” she told the Pulitzer Board. “And yet you have chosen to elevate a voice that denied 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 honouring 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.”
Jewish News has contacted the Pulitzer Board for comment. In a previous statement, it 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.”
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