Latest news with #Toha
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Former Israeli hostage slams Pulitzer board for awarding prize to 'modern-day Holocaust denier'
Israeli hostage Emily Damari slammed the Pulitzer Prize board's decision to grant their prestigious award to a New Yorker writer who viciously attacked her and another female Israeli captive on social media, saying the organization failed on a "question of humanity." "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," Damari posted on X. Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha was granted the Pulitzer Prize for his "essays on the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza," the board announced Monday. The award came with a $15,000 prize. Toha has frequently disparaged Israeli hostages in numerous posts on social media, including Damari. New Pulitzer Prize Winner Disparaged Israelis Kidnapped By Hamas On Oct 7, Questioned Their 'Hostage' Status "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?'" Toha posted about Damari on January 24, 2025. Read On The Fox News App Damari, 29, who lost two fingers in her left hand when she was dragged out of her home by Hamas terrorists during their Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, detailed her excruciating ordeal in her response addressed to members of the Pulitzer Prizes board. "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," she wrote. "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, who was freed from captivity on Jan. 19, wrote that the Pulitzer board's decision to grant the award to Toha caused her "shock and pain." She accused the Palestinian poet of "outright denials of documented atrocities" for his inflammatory posts which denied the murder of the Bibas family and that she and fellow Israeli captive Agam Berger were true hostages. "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," Toha posted on Feb. 3, 2025. President Trump Gave Me Back My Life After 471 Days Of Hamas Captivity — Please Save The Remaining Hostages Berger, 28, is an Israeli violinist and former Gaza border scout at base Nahal Oz who was held captive in Gaza for 482 days. She revealed how she found ways to observe the Jewish Sabbath and Passover even as her captors tried to force her to convert her to Islam and how she and a fellow scout, Liri Albag, were kept in a "small room with no natural light." She was released from captivity on Jan. 30. Damari and Berger declined to comment. Toha has also denied evidence that showed the two Bibas children, 9-month-old Kfir and Ariel, 4, were killed by their captors "bare hands." He also spread the disproven claim that Israel was behind the bombing of the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza in Oct. 2023 and appeared to deny that Israeli hostages had been tortured. Numerous Israeli hostages have testified that they were victims of or witnessed torture, including sexual assault. "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," Damari told the Pulitzer board. "This is not a question of politics. This is a question of humanity. And today, you have failed it," she concluded. A Pulitzer Prize representative did not directly address Toha's award when reached for comment. "The Pulitzer Prizes for reporting, commentary, literature, and the arts are based on a review of works that have been formally submitted for consideration," a Pulitzer Prize representative told Fox News Digital. The New Yorker and Toha did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment in time for article source: Former Israeli hostage slams Pulitzer board for awarding prize to 'modern-day Holocaust denier'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pulitzer accused of ‘desecrating the memory' of Oct 7 victims by freed hostage
The Pulitzer Prize has been accused of 'desecrating the memory' of Oct 7 victims after awarding a journalist who suggested Israelis could not be hostages. Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet, was recognised by the Pulitzer committee for his 'essays on the physical and emotional carnage in Gaza'. However, Honest Reporting, a watchdog that monitors for anti-Israel bias, found Mr Toha had posted a string of social media posts in which he disparaged Israeli hostages. In one he questioned how British-Israeli citizen Emily Damari, who was shot and abducted on Oct 7 2023 in the Kfar Aza kibbutz after Hamas gunmen stormed her home, could be considered a hostage. '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?',' he wrote. Ms Damari, who was released in January after more than 500 days held captive, responded by accusing Pulitzer of having 'chosen to elevate a voice that denies truth, erases victims, and desecrates the memory of the murdered'. '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,' the 29-year-old wrote on X. 'This is not a question of politics. This is a question of humanity. And today, you have failed it.' Mr Toha is one of several controversial journalists recognised by Pulitzer in this year's awards, which The Washington Free Beacon, a Right-wing website, said indicate the body's 'obsession with woke politics'. Other critics pointed out that none of the prize-winners tackled the alleged mental decline of Joe Biden, the former US president who ended his re-election campaign last year following a disastrous debate performance. The Hill's Robby Soave praised the 'good work' of newspapers including The New York Times and Washington Post but was 'struck by what's missing'. 'There is not a single winner that focuses on president Joe Biden's cognitive decline… was it not one of the biggest stories of 2024?' he continued. Mr Soave continued: 'The Pulitzer Prize board perhaps was overlooking good reporting on Biden's cognitive decline because of its own bias. 'Or perhaps there wasn't enough good journalism on this subject to evaluate because everyone ignored it. Neither thought is particularly comforting to me.' Tim Graham, executive editor of the Right-wing blog NewsBusters, wrote in an opinion piece: 'The 2025 Pulitzer announcement underlined that there was not a single reporting prize over the last four years for exposing anything about President Biden or his administration's actions.' Four prizes were awarded for investigating Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, notably for allegations about Russian collusion with his 2016 presidential campaign, he added. ProPublica, an investigative news outlet, was also given a Pulitzer for its series on how abortion bans in several states, in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe v Wade, had led to preventable deaths. While judges praised its 'urgent reporting', the conservative National Review said the work suffered from 'misrepresentations stemming from the authors' evident bias for abortion rights''. Two women who died after taking mifepristone and were featured in the series were not killed by 'pro-life legislation', it argued, but because the abortion pill is 'incredibly dangerous' in the first seven weeks of a pregnancy. The choice to award Mark Warren, who earned Esquire magazine its first-ever Pulitzer Prize, also came in for criticism. Warren's piece, described by Esquire as 'a deeply moving account' told the story of Bubba Copeland, a 'beloved Baptist pastor and mayor in a small town in Alabama'. Copeland took his own life after being exposed by a Right-wing news website for posting pictures of children from his community online and encouraging them to transition. The pastor, of whom cross-dressing pictures were also posted, is also said to have shared images of local women to porn websites. Posting on X about the award, Genevieve Cluck, founder of the satirical website Reductress, wrote: 'Hey @PulitzerPrizes. You've just given an award to an article that lionises a sexual predator. 'A man who preyed on women in his own community, and made 'sissy captions' using photos of minors.' Ann Telnaes, the former Washington Post cartoonist who resigned after her sketch depicting Jeff Bezos – the newspaper's billionaire owner – grovelling before Mr Trump was not published, also received an award. Ms Telnaes, who had worked for the liberal newspaper for almost two decades, said it was the first time she 'had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at'. She was praised for her 'piercing commentary' and 'fearlessness' by the Pulitzer board. Meanwhile, Percival Everett won in the fiction category for James, a 'reconsideration' of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the slave's perspective, while Susie Ibarra won the Pulitzer Prize for music for Sky Islands, a 'musical call to action' about climate change and biodiversity. The Telegraph has contacted the Pulitzer Prize for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Pulitzer Prize winner disparaged Israelis kidnapped by Hamas on Oct 7, questioned their 'hostage' status
FIRST ON FOX - The Pulitzer board awarded a prize Monday to a Palestinian poet and author who frequently disparaged Israeli hostages on social media, referring to them as "killers" and denying they were tortured under Hamas captivity. Mosab Abu Toha was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his essays published in the New Yorker which detailed the ongoing war in Gaza. Social media posts of his, uncovered by the journalism watchdog group Honest Reporting and shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, show a frequent pattern of hostility towards the Israeli hostages, particularly the women. All posts are from 2025, with the most recent April 13. "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?'" Toha posted about Israeli hostage Emily Damari on January 24, 2025. Trump's Doj Says Un Agency Can Be Sued For Oct. 7 Attacks, Reversing Biden-era Position Damari, 29, was shot in the hand during the barbaric Hamas Oct. 7 terrorist invasion of Israel and subsequently lost two fingers. She was dragged from her home by terrorists and held in captivity in Gaza for 471 days. She said she suffered immense pain for a year and a half from an open-festering wound that resulted from shoddy medical work done by Hamas, who her mother said "sewed her up like a pin cushion." "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," Toha posted on Feb. 3, 2025. Read On The Fox News App Berger, 28, is an Israeli violinist and former Gaza border scout at base Nahal Oz who was held captive in Gaza for 482 days. The young woman detailed how her captors tried to force her to convert her to Islam and how she and a fellow scout, Liri Albag, were kept in a "small room with no natural light." President Trump Gave Me Back My Life After 471 Days Of Hamas Captivity — Please Save The Remaining Hostages Toha has also cast doubt on the forensic evidence that showed that the Bibas children, 9-month-old Kfir and Ariel, 4, were killed by their captors. "Shame on BBC, propaganda machine. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said 'forensic findings', which have not been seen by the BBC, suggested the boys had been killed with 'bare hands.' If you haven't seen any evidence, why did you publish this. Well, that's what you are, filthy people," Toha posted February 21, 2025. An Israeli forensic analysis found that the two small boys were killed by the murderers' "bare hands." Heart-wrenching footage from Oct. 7 showed Shiri Bibas and her two boys being kidnapped from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. The bodies of the two boys were returned in February, Hamas had initially returned a different body and claimed that it was Shiri Bibas before surrendering her remains after international outcry. The poet has also cast doubt on Israeli hostages' claims that they were tortured, despite multiple testimonies from freed captives alleging horrific treatment. "When the Israeli hostages were released, did you see any torture signs? Even the soldiers among them?" Toha posted on X on February 1, 2025, over a video of a freed Palestinian prisoner who appeared to have severe blisters on both of his legs, whom Toha alleged was "kidnapped" after Oct. 7. Freed hostage Eli Sharabbi revealed that Hamas terrorists kept him in chains so tight they ripped his skin, beat him and broke his ribs and practically starved him. He said when he was finally released he said he weighed just "44 kilos" (97 pounds) and had lost half his body weight, in a speech delivered to the UN. An Israeli health ministry report found that teenage captives were forced to perform sexual acts on each other. President Trump said that Sharabbi and other freed hostages looked like "Holocaust survivors" during a press scrum on Air Force One Feb. 9. "They were in horrible condition—emaciated. It looked like something from many years ago," Trump said. Toha also seemed to mouth Hamas propaganda, accusing Israel of having bombed Al-Ahli Hospital in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 17, 2023. In the initial hours after the blast, mainstream media outlets parroted claims made by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry that Israel bombed the hospital, killing as many as 500 people. But international authorities quickly concluded that it was the hospital's parking lot that was hit by a Palestinian terrorist group's missile that misfired, resulting in a death toll a fraction of what Hamas had first alleged. "Remember when Israel denied its responsibility for the bombing of the Ahli/Baptist Hospital in 10/2023? Today Israel bombed a building and a power plant minutes after it threatened to bomb. Another piece of breaking news: Israel warned that it would carry out another air strike," Toha posted on April 13, 2025. Gaza Hospital Coverage Proves Media Needs To Be Skeptical Of Sources, Expert Says: 'All The Facts Were Wrong' "The Pulitzer Prize is the top award in journalism and should not be blemished by bestowing it to a man who repeatedly twisted facts, Abu Toha justifies abducting civilians from their homes, and spreads fake news. That doesn't sound prize-worthy to me," Honest Reporting Executive Director Gil Hoffman told Fox News Digital. "To state the obvious 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," Israeli Consul General in New York Ambassador Ofir Akunis told Fox News Digital. The Pulitzer committee wrote that they awarded Toha the coveted prize for his "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." Toha had written that he was detained by Israeli forces while trying to flee Gaza with his family in 2023. He claimed he was beaten and interrogated by IDF troops as he attempted to make his way to Egypt. The Pulitzer Prize org, New Yorker and Toha did not respond to a request for comment. Original article source: New Pulitzer Prize winner disparaged Israelis kidnapped by Hamas on Oct 7, questioned their 'hostage' status
Bloomberg
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Chilean Center-Left Presidential Hopeful Carolina Toha Gains in Polls
Chilean center-left presidential hopeful Carolina Toha rose in two polls conducted immediately after her formal announcement last week that she'll compete in this year's election. Toha was backed for head of state by 12% of voters, up from 3% in February, according to a poll by Panel Ciudadano UDD. She trailed center-right candidate Evelyn Matthei, who garnered 25%, and hard-right contenders Johannes Kaiser and Jose Antonio Kast, who obtained 16% and 13%, respectively.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chilean Center-Left Presidential Hopeful Carolina Toha Gains in Polls
(Bloomberg) -- Chilean center-left presidential hopeful Carolina Toha rose in two polls conducted immediately after her formal announcement last week that she'll compete in this year's election. NJ College to Merge With State School After Financial Stress Trump Administration Plans to Eliminate Dozens of Housing Offices Where New York City's Zoning Reform Will Add Housing Buffalo's Billion-Dollar Freeway Fix Is on Ice, But Not Because of Trump Inside the 'Not Architecture' of High Line Designers Diller Scofidio + Renfro Toha was backed for head of state by 12% of voters, up from 3% in February, according to a poll by Panel Ciudadano UDD. She trailed center-right candidate Evelyn Matthei, who garnered 25%, and hard-right contenders Johannes Kaiser and Jose Antonio Kast, who obtained 16% and 13%, respectively. Meanwhile, a separate survey by Cadem showed Toha with 10% of voter intentions, up from 3% in February. That poll showed Matthei leading with 18%, followed by Kaiser with 13% and Kast with 11%. Matthei would win a hypothetical run-off against all three, according to Cadem. Toha is a lifelong politician who served as interior minister until March 4, and she's viewed by many as the center-left's strongest candidate in the upcoming contest. Going forward, Toha will undoubtedly seek to lure supporters of former President Michelle Bachelet, a progressive who said last week that she won't seek a third term. Still, Toha has faced a backlash from Chileans who are concerned about crime and also worries about her appeal with voters. The first-round vote will be on Nov. 16 and a run-off, if needed, would take place on Dec. 14. Local laws forbid consecutive terms for any head of state, meaning current President Gabriel Boric won't be able to seek reelection. The Panel Ciudadano UDD poll surveyed 1,084 people March 5-6. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. The Cadem poll surveyed 702 people March 5-7. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. (Updates story with Cadem poll starting in third paragraph) An All-American Finance Empire Drew Billions—and a Regulator's Attention The Mysterious Billionaire Behind the World's Most Popular Vapes Greenland Voters Weigh Their Election's Most Important Issue: Trump Rich People Are Firing a Cash Cannon at the US Economy—But at What Cost? Snack Makers Are Removing Fake Colors From Processed Foods ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
