Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding its prize to Navi Pillay. He called her "a bigot" who built her career on "blood libels against the one and only Jewish state."
Pillay chaired the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In September 2025, that commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel rejected the report.
Netanyahu also tied Pillay to International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan. "Her proudest achievement was to legitimize a corrupt prosecutor," Netanyahu said.
He said Pillay "supplied the lies" that Khan "weaponized" to build a case against Israel. He called the case "a travesty of justice" and "demonization of the Jews."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee named the South African jurist the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Friday. The Jerusalem Post reported that the committee honored her "for her efforts to promote peace and international law." The committee also linked her early defense of Nelson Mandela and other opponents of apartheid to her later work as a judge in major international court cases.
Pillay served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. She also presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and served as a judge at the ICC.
Netanyahu's dispute with Khan began before the prize was announced. Leaked recordings published in July captured a conversation from October 29, 2024. In it, Netanyahu raised his concern over pending ICC arrest warrants against him. He suggested to Lindsey Graham that they focus on the allegations surrounding Khan.
