Israel condemns Navi Pillay's Nobel Peace Prize, with Netanyahu calling her a fanatic
The Nobel Committee in Oslo named South African jurist Navi Pillay on Friday, and Israel's foreign ministry and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded the same day with sharp attacks on her record.
The award
The Nobel Committee announced in Oslo on Friday that the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize goes to Navi Pillay, an 85-year-old South African lawyer who served as the fifth UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Pillay also served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as a judge at the International Criminal Court, where she sat in the Appeals Division from 2003 to 2008. The committee said she was honoured for her exceptional courage and integrity in promoting a more complete international legal order. After the announcement, Pillay was received with cheers and applause, and she answered with humour:
If you applaud a little more, I might share this prize with Trump.
Israel's response
The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded with a statement and an X post that accused Pillay of politically motivated demonisation of Israel and of promoting a genocide narrative. Pillay chaired the independent international commission of inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territories, which in September 2025 concluded that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Sources note that the commission does not express the views of the United Nations. Israel rejects the genocide claims, and the International Court of Justice is examining a case brought by South Africa but has not issued a final ruling. The ministry described the award as an abuse of the prize:
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Pillay is not a recognition of justice. It is the vulgar instrumentalisation of a prize to legitimise hatred and prejudice against Israel.
The ministry closed its statement by invoking Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister. It said that after the committee rewarded what it called "the greatest lie of the 21st century", Goebbels was surely applauding from hell. It also said that if there were a prize for lies, hatred and slander, Pillay would be one of the favourites.
Netanyahu and the election backdrop
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X, as cited by Skai:
The Nobel Committee has lost its moral compass. It awarded its highest distinction to a fanatic who contributed to the demonisation of Jews.
The Prime Minister's office, in a separate English-language post on X, said Pillay had built her career on inventing and spreading "ritual murder" libels against the Jewish state. The post described ICC prosecutor Karim Khan as corrupt and noted that ICC staff had accused him of rape and sexual harassment, saying he used Pillay's claims to build a false case against Israel. Netanyahu himself is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant for crimes against humanity. The announcement came shortly before Israeli elections in which Netanyahu is fighting for political survival, according to To Vima. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim welcomed the honour as a strong message of hope that "humanity still resists the forces of evil."
Washington and the court
Norway's Nobel Committee chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes said:
The judges, the people who guard the fine red line between order and chaos, deserve our highest praise. But today, when these very judges are persecuted and their institutions come under attack, we need people with courage, vision and determination, qualities that are evident in Navi Pillay's work in justice.
To Vima reports that Donald Trump has described the ICC as an "out-of-control, anti-American court" and called on member states to leave it. The prize therefore reads as a rebuke to the US president and to Netanyahu, both of whom have rejected the UN commission's findings in strong terms.
