The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that it had awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to South African judge Navi Pillay in recognition of her efforts to promote peace and international law. The decision sparked Israeli and US anger because of her role in a UN inquiry into the war in Gaza, while UN officials welcomed it as support for human rights, the rule of law and accountability.
Pillay’s career in international justice
The committee praised Pillay’s decades-long career in the judiciary, public prosecution and human rights advocacy. It said her work had helped bring to justice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — issues that had occupied a central place in her career within international justice institutions.
However, the award acquired an additional political dimension for Israel and its supporters, who saw it as giving greater international standing to allegations against Israel over the Gaza war and drawing renewed attention to the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which Pillay chaired. The UN commission concluded that Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip amounted to genocide.
Israeli and US criticism of the award
Israel repeatedly rejected that conclusion and described the commission’s report as a “scandal”, while Israeli officials accused Pillay of bias and of working according to a political agenda targeting Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on the X platform that the Nobel Committee had “lost its moral compass”.
He accused Pillay of building her career on “fabricating and promoting blood libels against the only Jewish state”, as he put it, in one of the most prominent Israeli reactions to the award announcement. Daniel Meron, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, also described the Nobel Committee’s decision as “shameful”.
He said the award represented an endorsement of those he called promoters of antisemitism, accusing Pillay of using her position within the United Nations to undermine Israel. Criticism also came from pro-Israel organisations, including the Anti-Defamation League, which said the Nobel Committee had rewarded what it described as Pillay’s record of “legitimising the demonisation of Jews and Israelis, and embracing anti-Zionism”.
Pillay’s positions and the Gaza inquiry
Pillay previously served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and worked at several leading international judicial institutions. Her career included serving as a judge at the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Court of Justice, as part of efforts to investigate serious violations and hold those responsible to account.
Pillay also chaired the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which examined the war in the Gaza Strip and reached the conclusion rejected by Tel Aviv. After the announcement of her victory, she spoke about the issue before a crowd gathered to celebrate the award in the German city of Nuremberg.
The last thing I did was present the report on Gaza, which described what is happening there as genocide
UN welcome and US escalation
By contrast, UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the award to Pillay, saying it honoured all those working to support and defend international law, the rule of law and human rights, as well as those seeking peace, justice and human dignity. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk described the award as deserved.
He said honouring Pillay affirmed that human rights, the rule of law, justice and accountability were essential pillars, in a position contrary to the criticism voiced by Israeli officials and pro-Israel organisations. US President Donald Trump entered the dispute after reposting on his Truth Social platform a comment by lawyer David Schoen attacking Pillay and the Nobel Committee.
Trump described Pillay as an “outspoken hater of the United States and Israel” and accused her of conducting a sham investigation into Israel, saying her work ran counter to what was required to promote peace. Trump also compared the honouring of Pillay with what he described as his achievements in foreign policy, referring to the Abraham Accords, the release of hostages in Gaza and efforts to end international conflicts.
He had repeatedly said on several occasions that he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, while the Nobel Committee did not mention his name in its reasoning for awarding the prize to Pillay. In a development linked to the controversy over international justice institutions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Friday that sanctions would be imposed on the International Criminal Court, accusing it of threatening US sovereignty through investigations involving American citizens.
In a video posted on the X platform, Rubio said: “Either the International Criminal Court ends its threats, or we will end the International Criminal Court.” He added that Washington would continue dismantling the court “piece by piece” until Americans were no longer exposed to what he described as the threat.
