- Netanyahu criticizes Nobel Peace Prize for Navi Pillay.
- Pillay accused of anti-Jewish sentiment, promoting Israel genocide claims.
- UN report found Israel committed genocide in Gaza, rejected by Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has criticised the reported decision to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay, accusing her of spreading anti-Jewish sentiment and attacking the Nobel Committee for honouring her.
The criticism follows Pillay's role as chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which concluded in a September 2025 report that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has rejected the commission's findings.
The Nobel Prize committee has lost its moral compass. It has awarded its highest honor to a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the one and only Jewish state. Navi Pillay’s proudest achievement was to legitimize a corrupt prosecutor who turned to her fabrications against Israel hoping that by joining her bigoted lynch mob, he would beat a rape charge. Karim Khan, who was accused by his own ICC employees of raping and sexually molesting them, used Pillay’s lies to build a fake case against Israel. Pillay supplied the lies. Khan weaponized them. And now the misguided members of the Nobel Committee are honoring the woman who propagated this demonization of the Jews and this travesty of justice.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 9, 2026
In a statement posted on X on Friday, Netanyahu's office accused the Nobel Committee of abandoning its principles and described Pillay as a “bigot” who had built her career around accusations against Israel.
“The Nobel Prize committee has lost its moral compass. It has awarded its highest honour to a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the only Jewish state,” the statement said.
The statement also accused Pillay of contributing to what it called the “demonisation of the Jews” and linked her work to International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan, alleging that her findings helped build a case against Israel.
“Navi Pillay's proudest achievement was to legitimise a corrupt prosecutor who turned to her fabrications against Israel, hoping that by joining her bigoted lynch mob, he would beat a rape charge,” the statement said.
“Pillay supplied the lies. Khan weaponised them,” it added.
What Did The UN Commission Find About Gaza?
In September 2025, the commission concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces had committed four of the five acts defined as genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The report cited killings, serious bodily or mental harm, conditions of life intended to bring about the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, and measures intended to prevent births.
The commission's findings were those of an independent inquiry and did not constitute a ruling by an international court. Israel rejected the conclusions and accused the commission of political bias.
Who Is Navi Pillay?
Navanethem “Navi” Pillay is a South African jurist of Indian Tamil descent, born on September 23, 1941, in Durban. During apartheid, she became the first non-white woman to open a law practice in South Africa’s Natal province, defending political activists and prisoners.
Pillay served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014 and as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 1995 to 2003. She also chaired the UN commission that investigated alleged violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
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