Pirates security guard whips fan with belt during stadium fight and gets suspended

A Pittsburgh Pirates stadium usher has been suspended after being seen using his belt to whip a fan during a fistfight at PNC Park on Sunday.

The video begins by showing the usher and fan standing face-to-face in a heated argument before the staffer punches the fan in the face multiple times.

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Other fans are seen coming to break up the fight, but the pause is only temporary.

Just seconds later, the fan is seen spitting on the usher, who then takes off his belt and whips the fan with it multiple times.

Footage of the video was initially posted to TikTok. The original poster has deleted the footage, but it has been recirculated across social media.

“Following the conclusion of yesterday’s game, as the final few fans were exiting the ballpark, there was a verbal altercation between two male guests and a female food and beverage employee. At that time, the ballpark game-day employee seen in the video attempted to intervene on her behalf,” Pirates senior vice president of communications Brian Warecki told Fox News Digital.

“We are aware of the unfortunate incident that occurred following the conclusion of yesterday’s game between a PNC Park game-day employee and a guest. The employee’s behavior was entirely unacceptable, and he was immediately suspended. This incident is currently under further investigation.”

The incident came just days after another fan was severely injured during a Pirates game at PNC Park.

Kavan Markwood, a 20-year-old ex-college football player, fell more than 20 feet over PNC Park’s right field wall during a game against the Chicago Cubs.

PIRATES FAN WHO SHOCKINGLY FLIPPED OVER WALL ONTO FIELD IDENTIFIED AS EX-COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER

The organizer of a GoFundMe page for Markwood shared an update on Saturday that he is improving.

“After everything he’s been through since the accident on Wednesday night, this progress feels nothing short of miraculous,” wrote organizer Jennifer Phillips, who once taught Markwood. “He still has a long road ahead of him, but today brought a moment of hope that we’ve all been holding onto.”

Amid all the chaos, the Pirates are trudging through a mediocre season. At 12-25, Pittsburgh sits in last place in the NL Central Division.

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'The View' co-host insists Gloria Gaynor is actually a feminist after singer rejects title

The ladies of “The View” tried to make sense of why Gloria Gaynor does not consider her iconic song, “I Will Survive,” to be a feminist anthem and why she would not label herself a feminist.

In a recent interview with the UK outlet Metro, Gaynor said that one of the biggest misconceptions about her is that people think she’s a feminist. Her 1978 mega-hit was not so much a feminist ballad, she said, but one that put a spotlight on trauma, as she was dealing with some of her own struggles at the time, including recent back surgery and the loss of her mom a few years prior.

She added that having grown up with five brothers, she “loves men.”

“The View” hosts reacted to Gaynor’s surprising take during their “Hot Topics” discussion on Tuesday while also trying to define the word “feminism.”

‘I WILL SURVIVE’ SINGER GLORIA GAYNOR SAYS IT’S A ‘MISCONCEPTION’ SHE’S A FEMINIST

The table was nearly unanimous in agreeing that the word feminism simply means equality between genders. After sharing her definition, co-host Sara Haines suggested that Gaynor is actually a feminist.

“Because I think the feminist movement has changed over the decades, as to who the icons were, what the point and the mission was,” Haines said. “But ultimately, feminism is just equality for women to have the same opportunities. So, I think she really deeply is a feminist.”

Haines and her co-hosts continued to try and define the somewhat divisive term. The common misconception, Haines said, is that “feminism means you hate men.”

“They don’t have to be zero-sum issues,” she continued. “To have equality for women does nothing to men.”

FEMINISTS ARGUE TRAD WIFE INFLUENCERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA MAY HAVE HELPED TRUMP WIN OVER WOMEN’S VOTE

“The thing is, you don’t hate men,” Joy Behar agreed. “What you hate is sexism and misogyny. That should be clear to everyone. Because men are feminists also.”

Behar later added that women have been “paying attention” to these cultural issues since the second wave of the feminist movement in the 1970s.

“I think most women believe in equal rights, in empowering other women,” Alyssa Farah Griffin added. “And I think that it becomes this sort of loaded term that people may interpret different ways. Like you’re burning your bra, or you hate men.”

She suggested it’s a generational issue, where younger people are more “prone to labels.”

‘I WILL SURVIVE’ SINGER GLORIA GAYNOR SUING EX-PRODUCER FOR $2 MILLION, ALLEGING ‘SUPPRESSED’ PAYMENTS

Sunny Hostin chimed in to say there shouldn’t be any bad connotations associated with the label, and that it’s OK to be a feminist and still admire the opposite sex.

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“I don’t know why equality is suddenly a bad thing,” Hostin noted. “I don’t know why diversity and inclusion and equality is such a bad thing. The bottom line is, you can be someone that supports women having equal rights, and Black people having equal rights, and people that are disabled having equal rights, and people in the LGBTQ+ community having equal rights, and still love a man!”

In addition to writing “I Will Survive” to encourage victims of trauma, Gaynor has in recent years also associated the song with her return to faith.

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“When I read the lyrics, I realized the reason they’d been waiting for me to record that song was that God had given that song to them for them to set aside, waiting for him to get everything in order for me to meet up with them. And that song was ‘I Will Survive,'” Gaynor told NPR in 2019.

Astounding new audio shows air traffic controllers reacting to FAA tech outage: 'This is a serious issue'

Incredible air traffic control (ATC) audio captures the moment staff lost radar and radio signals while guiding planes to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey last week.

The April 28 outage lasted roughly 90 seconds. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital, writing that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s operation in Philadelphia had “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them.”

The audio shows the initial moments of controllers learning of an outage at Philadelphia TRACON/ATCT.

“There is some equipment outages, so I don’t know what exactly the equipment is, but they’re having some frequency issues, and then the radar scopes are out, so they can’t have anyone depart right now,” one man is heard saying.

NEWARK AIRPORT HIT WITH NEW DELAYS, OUTAGE HEARD ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO

“I am going to move you here because I just got told that the approach lost all the radars. Three of the four radar screens went black and they have no frequencies,” another says.

Another man remarks, “I guess this is a serious issue because I have one more arrival, and now I have nobody else coming in back.”

The audio also captures controllers attempting to get more information about the outage.

“Any idea how long the departure delay is going to be?” one man asks in the audio.

“I have no idea. We’re still waiting on word from Newark TRACON,” another quickly replies.

HAKEEM JEFFRIES BLAMES TRUMP FOR NEWARK AIRPORT CHAOS, ACCUSES WHITE HOUSE OF ‘BREAKING THE FAA’

“The approach just told me that a couple of techs went in, looked at the radar scope and walked out,” a man is heard saying. “They think it’s going to be a likely delay.”

The incident predated massive delays and cancellations at the New Jersey travel hub, which has been ongoing since Thursday.

In a statement obtained by FOX Business, the FAA addressed the staffing shortages that have contributed to the issue.

“While we cannot quickly replace [the controllers who have left] due to this highly specialized profession, we continue to train controllers who will eventually be assigned to this busy airspace,” the agency said Monday.

“When staffing or equipment issues occur, the FAA will ensure safety by slowing the rate of arrivals into the airport. We will keep the public updated as we work through these issues.”

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report.

Scott Bessent says US doesn't want to decouple from China ahead of scheduled meeting with Chinese counterpart

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts over the weekend in Switzerland to discuss economic matters, a significant first step in trade talks between the two global superpowers since President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on “Liberation Day.”

Bessent told “The Ingraham Angle” in an interview Tuesday that he was planning on traveling to Switzerland to negotiate with the Swiss and found out that the Chinese team would also be traveling through Europe.

He did not explicitly mention which side called the other first, saying there were “a lot of contact points over time.”

CHINA’S ECONOMIC WOES THREATEN REAL WAR AMID TARIFF BATTLE

“The world has been coming to the U.S. and China has been the missing piece,” Bessent told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

The White House has been attempting to negotiate trade deals with numerous countries after Trump announced a 90-day pause in April on most so-called reciprocal tariffs, excluding China, which faces a 145% tariff.

“We have shared interests. This isn’t sustainable, as I said before, especially on the Chinese side — and, you know, 145%, 125% is the equivalent of an embargo. We don’t want to decouple — what we want is fair trade,” Bessent said.

No trade deals have officially been announced since the pause was implemented. The Treasury secretary said at a White House press briefing last week that the United States has had substantial talks with Japan and a deal with India could be imminent.

SEN RAND PAUL: TERMINATE THE TRUMP TARIFFS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE

Trump’s tariffs have created volatility in financial markets since his “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2. The president asked voters to remain patient as his economic plan takes shape, following the economy’s 0.3% contraction in the first quarter of 2025.

Bessent told Ingraham that he expects the upcoming scheduled meeting with Chinese officials will be more about de-escalation than a big trade deal.

“We’ve got to de-escalate before we can move forward,” he added.

Trump said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker that at some point he would have to lower the tariffs on China “because otherwise, you could never do business with them.”

“They want to do business very much… their economy is collapsing,” he said.

Bessent did not discuss potential changes in tariff percentages, saying he wouldn’t negotiate in public, but stated that “everything is on the table.”

“At the end of the day, the president has said that he’s happy just to give all countries a number if the negotiations don’t go well, and that’s what we’re doing with the other 17 important trading partners,” he explained.

“You can negotiate in good faith, you can come with your A game, or President Trump is happy to ratchet the number back up to your April 2 number, if you don’t want to decrease your tariffs, your non-tariff trade barriers, the currency manipulation and subsidies of labor and industry.”

Ex-NFL player speaks out against college athlete revenue sharing with landmark Supreme Court ruling pending

The age of athlete compensation in college sports could get a lot more complicated with a pending Supreme Court decision.

A settlement in the case of House v. NCAA would allow all Division I schools to share revenue directly with student athletes if it receives final approval this month.

The current system of NIL compensation, in effect since summer 2021, has faced its share of scrutiny. But universities paying athletes directly would all but erase the “amateurism” that historically defined American college sports.

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Former NFL and college football player Jack Brewer is heavily opposed to the concept.

“We need to get back to student-athletes,” Brewer told Fox News Digital.

“If a person wants the freedom to make as much money as they want and can leverage the sport to do that, they should absolutely be able to — and they can, in our professional leagues. But there’s no place for an unlimited amount of money to be paid to people in college sports. They should be student-athletes, which is what they signed up to be.”

FLORIDA’S WALTER CLAYTON JR. RECALLS FINAL AGAINST HOUSTON

Brewer argued that revenue sharing would worsen a problem created by NIL since its 2021 legalization — declining graduation rates.

“You’ll continue to see students who are no longer focused on school because their incentive for going to college is no longer to get an education, but to make money,” Brewer said. “It’s not right for universities to exploit this loophole, recruiting student-athletes who no longer have to focus on being students.”

President Donald Trump was considering an executive order to regulate name, image and likeness in college sports after meeting with the legendary Alabama Crimson Tide coach, the Wall Street Journal reported last week

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DeSantis signs bill banning fluoride additives in Florida public water: 'Hydrate, not medicate'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 700 into law Tuesday, eliminating the ability of local governments to add fluoride or other medical additives to the state’s public water supply, a move cheered by supporters of medical freedom and health transparency.

“Jamming fluoride in the water supply …  is essentially a forced medication,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Tallahassee. “At the end of the day, we should all agree that people deserve informed consent.”

The new law, part of the broader Florida Farm Bill, does not ban fluoride entirely.

Floridians will still be able to purchase fluoridated water from private suppliers. But it draws a firm line against the government deciding what goes in your glass without your say.

UTAH BANS FLUORIDE FROM PUBLIC DRINKING WATER, ALIGNING WITH MAHA MOVEMENT

“When it gets hot in the Sunshine State, no one clamors for a cold glass of fluoride,” state Sen. Keith Truenow told Fox News Digital. “We will protect our natural resources and give Floridians the ability to make the best choices without government forcing unnecessary additives.”

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who joined DeSantis at the signing, emphasized that this isn’t about denying people fluoride, but ensuring they aren’t medicated without consent.

FLUORIDE EXPOSURE LINKED TO ‘DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS’ ON HEALTH OF PREGNANT WOMEN, INFANTS

“Today, Florida took a bold step and declared that drinking water will hydrate, not medicate,” Simpson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“No Floridian should be medicated without their consent, plain and simple. Through our Florida Farm Bill, we’re saying loud and clear: Florida’s water will be clean, it will be safe and it will be medication-free. That’s what freedom looks like in the Free State of Florida.”

The effort aligns with the national “Make America Healthy Again” movement led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His initiative emphasizes consumer choice, reduced reliance on centralized health mandates and a renewed skepticism of top-down medical policies.

“Today’s efforts to prohibit local governments from unilaterally adding fluoride to public drinking water is the logical next iteration of our commitment to being the Free State of Florida,” said Bryan Griffin, communications director for DeSantis. “And Ron DeSantis has delivered yet again.”

DeSantis also tied the move to a growing public distrust of medical institutions, citing the fallout from COVID-era policies.

“People are just much more skeptical when these elites are trying to jam anything down our throats,” he said. “The burden is on them to prove why this should be forced on people. And it really shouldn’t be.”

The legislation also includes broad support for Florida’s agriculture sector, new consumer transparency laws and restrictions on environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices that target farmers and ranchers.

DeSantis has also promised action on geoengineering.

“Florida is not a testing ground for geoengineering,” DeSantis wrote on X Tuesday. “The Free State of Florida means freedom from governments or private actors unilaterally applying chemicals or geoengineering to people or public spaces.”

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Critics of SB 700 argue fluoridation has long been used to fight tooth decay, particularly in children.

But DeSantis pointed to updated guidance from State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who raised concerns about fluoride’s effects on pregnant women and children.

“You don’t even have to agree with that analysis,” the governor said, “but people should still have the right to opt out.”

Kennedy did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Trump expresses 'absolute confidence' as Steve Witkoff is sworn in as special Middle East envoy

President Donald Trump’s new special envoy to the Middle East was sworn in by Secretary of State Marco Rubio Tuesday in an Oval Office ceremony.

Speaking before the swearing-in, Trump praised Witkoff, who was instrumental in securing an extended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the return of 33 hostages, including two Americans, who were being held by Hamas.

Trump said Witkoff has “been with me, more or less, one way or the other, every step of the way,” adding that he has “absolute confidence and support and trust” in his Middle East envoy’s ability to secure key deals in the realm of foreign diplomacy, such as ceasefire agreements between Israel and Hamas and between Ukraine and Russia.

Though Witkoff is a real estate businessman by trade, Trump said he “quickly established himself as one of the toughest, smartest and best negotiators in the business,” which is why he chose him for the important role of special envoy to the Middle East.

TRUMP’S GOODWILL TESTED AS PUTIN IGNORES PEACE EFFORTS DURING WITKOFF’S VISIT

“As a businessman, he’s admired and respected by all, and now Steve is putting his talents to work for America’s special envoy to the United States and making a lot of progress. Our country is blessed to have a negotiator of such skill and experience who really selflessly steps up to the plate, puts himself forward all the time,” the president said.

Trump did note there was somewhat of a learning curve for Witkoff when it came to foreign government relations but said he has been “figuring it out” at a lightning pace.

“It takes him about an hour to figure it out,” Trump said. “After that, he’s brutal. He does a great job.”

NEXT US NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR? HERE’S WHO TRUMP MIGHT PICK TO REPLACE WALTZ

Trump noted Witkoff has already been active over the last several months, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders from Iran.

“He’s working tirelessly to end the bloody and destructive conflicts,” said Trump, touting Witkoff’s success so far in negotiations with various world leaders.

After the ceremony, Trump took questions from reporters, addressing a range of topics, including the just-announced ceasefire between the U.S. and the Houthis. When asked about conflicting reports indicating the Houthis do not plan to stop attacking Israel, Trump said that the terror group’s surrogates have indicated “very strongly” that “they want nothing to do with [the United States].”

Trump was also asked questions about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and, in particular, about the release of the remaining 21 living hostages.

“This is a terrible situation. We’re trying to get the hostages out. We’ve gotten a lot of them out,” Trump told reporters, noting it is also just important to find and return the bodies of those already killed by Hamas.

TRUMP’S SPECIAL ENVOY ON PUTIN’S CONTINENTAL ASPIRATIONS: ‘I JUST DON’T SEE THAT HE WANTS TO TAKE ALL OF EUROPE’

He shared that two weeks ago a couple whose son died as a hostage came to him and said, “Please, sir, my son is dead. Please get us back his body.”

“They wanted his body. He’s dead,” Trump said from the Oval Office after Witkoff’s confirmation. “They know. He said they wanted his body as much as you would want the boy if he was alive. It’s a very sad thing.”

Trump also commented on Iran and its potential development of nuclear weaponry. The president said definitively that “they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”

“This is really crunch time. I would tell you, for Iran and for their country, this is a very important time for Iran. This is the most important time in the history of Iran, for Iran, and I hope they do what’s right,” Trump told reporters.

“I’d love to see a peace deal, a strong peace deal. … We want it to be a successful country,” he added. “We don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon. And if they choose to go a different route, it’s going to be a very sad thing. And it’s something we don’t want to have to do, but we have no choice.”

Teamsters boss praises Trump foreign film tariff, condemns Hollywood's 'un-American addiction to outsourcing'

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien and Teamsters Motion Picture Division Director Lindsay Dougherty praised President Donald Trump’s call to place a 100% tariff on films produced in other countries.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump wrote that the “Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death.” He went on to warn, “Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,” and that, “Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.”

Trump added that plans to institute a tariff are in the works, and he authorized the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative “to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”

The two representatives of the Teamsters union praised Trump for this in a statement, saying, “For years, Hollywood studios have hollowed out the industry by following Corporate America’s crooked playbook of outsourcing good union jobs. Studios chase cheap production costs overseas while gutting the American workforce that built the film and TV industry.”

NEWSOM PROPOSES TO WORK WITH TRUMP TO ‘MAKE AMERICA FILM AGAIN,’ FLOATS $7.5B FEDERAL TAX CREDIT

“These gigantic corporations line their pockets by recklessly cutting corners, abandoning American crews, and exploiting tax loopholes abroad,” the statement added. “While these companies get rich fleeing to other countries and gaming the system, our members have gotten screwed over. The Teamsters Union has been sounding the alarm for years. If studios want to benefit from American box offices, they must invest in American workers.

The statement included an explicit statement of praise for Trump himself, declaring, “We thank President Trump for boldly supporting good union jobs when others have turned their heads. This is a strong step toward finally reining in the studios’ un-American addiction to outsourcing our members’ work.”

The union clarified that they are willing to praise representatives of any party for embracing such an agenda.

“The Teamsters applaud any elected official — Republican, Democrat, Independent — who’s willing to fight for American workers,” the statement read. “We look forward to continuing to work with the administration to build a trade agenda that benefits our members and workers throughout the American motion picture and TV industry.”

It concluded, “It’s time to create good film jobs here at home by bringing production back to America.”

WHOOPI GOLDBERG LASHES OUT AT TRUMP’S HOLLYWOOD TARIFFS

O’Brien spoke about the union’s statement on Fox News’ “America Reports” Tuesday, reaffirming his support for Trump’s policy. He argued that America has the most creative workforce and actors, but shredded Hollywood leaders for being more focused on “the bottom line of a balance sheet” than creativity.

At one point in the interview, Fox News host John Roberts asked the union boss what he thinks about how Democrats are “demonizing” the president. O’Brien suggested that the Democratic Party is reflexively against anything Trump wants.

“I think I’ve said this before, whatever President Trump does, even if it’s good for this country, just because his name is Trump, he’s not gonna get the support,” O’Brien said of the Democratic Party. “We are looking beyond any differences of opinions that we have had with anybody.”

“We want to bring manufacturing back to the country. We want to bring jobs, put people to work at, have a career path. Not everybody has the ability to go to a 4-year college. There is an ability to bring manufacturing back, put people to work, have careers and live a middle-class life. I think regardless of whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or an Independent, we should be realists and want to encourage people to develop and manufacture in this country,” he concluded.

Tom Brady gives positive assessment of Raiders rookie Cam Miller's NFL future: report

Former Boise State star running back Ashton Jeanty headlined the Las Vegas Raiders’ 2025 NFL Draft class. But the franchise’s sixth-round selection caught Tom Brady’s eye.

Cam Miller, who won two FCS national championships during his standout career at North Dakota State, was the 215th overall pick in last month’s draft.

Brady owns a minority ownership stake in the Raiders. The Athletic chronicled Brady’s close relationship with Raiders general manager John Spytek. Brady’s friendship with Spytek dates back to the University of Michigan. Spytek also worked in the Buccaneers’ front office during Brady’s time in Tampa Bay.

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The outlet reported that the seven-time Super Bowl winner was on the call with Raiders owner Mark Davis and other limited partners during Spytek’s interview for the general manager’s job. Given the build-up of trust between Brady and Spytek, it stands to reason that the former NFL quarterback was on board with taking Miller on the third day of the draft.

RANKING 2026 QB DRAFT CLASS: IS ARCH MANNING CLEAR-CUT NO. 1 OF A STACKED BUNCH?

Spytek revealed that Brady provided a glowing assessment of Miller, saying, “He liked the way he threw it, his technique, throwing from the ground up and his motion.”

The Raiders general manager added that Brady was bullish on Miller’s “potential to improve.”

Miller ended his four-year run at North Dakota State with a 45-11 record. He will enter a Raiders quarterback room that includes Geno Smith and Aidan O’Connell.

The Raiders sent a third-round pick in the 2025 draft to the Seahawks in exchange for Smith. The move to Las Vegas brought Smith’s five-year run with the Seahawks to an end. He was the primary starter for three of those seasons and earned Pro Bowl honors twice.

Smith threw for 4,320 yards and 21 touchdowns with 15 interceptions last season and remains the favorite to be the starter when the Raiders open their season, even with the drafting of Miller.

The Raiders finished 4-13 last season, which led to the departures of coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco. Pete Carroll, who coached Smith in Seattle, was named the Raiders’ new head coach in January.

The Raiders also spent part of the offseason making sure a key piece of their defense was locked in for the foreseeable future. Defensive end Maxx Crosby landed the richest contract for a non-quarterback in league history in March. ESPN reported his three-year extension is worth $106.5 million, with $91.5 million guaranteed. The deal ties Crosby to Las Vegas through the 2029 season.

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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.

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.

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The Pulitzer Prize org, New Yorker and Toha did not respond to a request for comment.