Israel lashes out at Nobel Committee after Pillay wins peace prize

Israel's government pushed back sharply after this year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African jurist Navi Pillay, 85, whose UN inquiry commission concluded last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority welcomed the award.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on X that awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize "is not a recognition of justice," according to AP and CNN.

The ministry called the award a prize for "the greatest lie of the 21st century" and accused the Nobel Peace Prize of being used as a tool to legitimize hatred and bias against Israel. Israeli outlet The Times of Israel reported that Israeli officials went so far as to say Nazi Germany's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels would be applauding from hell.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X that "the Nobel Committee has lost its moral compass." He lashed out at Pillay, accusing her of building a career on "blood libel" against the Jewish state. Blood libel refers to the false medieval accusation that Jews harmed children for religious rituals — a charge historically used to justify the persecution of Jews in Europe.

Israel's fierce reaction stems from Pillay's recent work. From 2021 through last year, she chaired an independent commission of inquiry established by the UN Human Rights Council. In September last year, the commission released a report concluding that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Genocide refers to crimes committed with the intent to destroy an ethnic or social group. Israel rejected the findings at the time, calling them a distortion of the facts. The commission does not speak for the UN as a whole, and its report carries no legal binding force.

The Nobel Committee drew a line against the controversy. According to AFP, the committee said the award was not a statement on whether genocide had occurred in Gaza. Committee Chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said the prize recognized Pillay's entire career, stretching from her days defending Nelson Mandela to the present. The committee cited her "efforts to promote peace and international law" as the basis for the selection.

Netanyahu also accused Pillay of having legitimized a "corrupt prosecutor" — a reference to Karim Khan, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The ICC is an international tribunal that tries individuals for serious crimes such as war crimes.

Khan sought an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in May 2024 in connection with the war in Gaza. He later faced allegations of sexual misconduct involving female staff members and was removed from office in July this year by a vote of member states — 82 of the court's 125 members voted in favor of his dismissal. Khan denied all allegations and said he would pursue legal action.

The Palestinian response was the opposite. The Palestinian Authority's Foreign Ministry said the award amplified "the voice of truth, the voice of the oppressed" and praised Pillay's work leading the commission and documenting alleged Israeli crimes. Bassem Naim, a senior official of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, welcomed the news as a source of hope for the people of Gaza.

Congratulations also poured in from the international community. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed Pillay as a champion of international law and human rights. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also extended their congratulations.

The United States struck a different tone. Hours after the prize was announced, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against the ICC. In a video posted on X, he warned that "if the ICC does not stop its threats, we will end the ICC." The sanctions targeted the institution itself rather than any individual, freezing ICC assets in the United States and blocking transactions with the court.

Pillay served as an ICC judge from 2003 to 2008. President Donald Trump, rather than offering congratulations, shared a post on his social media criticizing the Nobel Committee.

Pillay previously served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She currently serves as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice, the UN court that handles disputes between states, presiding over a case involving genocide charges against Myanmar. The award ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 10 in Oslo, Norway.