The Impartial, Principled Navanethem Pillay, Nobel Laureate

"[The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Navi Pillay] contributed to strengthen the institutions of international law.'"

"Her independence, expertise and steadfastness have made her one of the most respected international jurists of our time."

"In awarding this year’s Nobel peace prize, the Norwegian Nobel committee wants to remind the world that the rule of law – national and international – underpins the system we have set up to ensure peace and resolve conflicts non-violently."

Nobel Committee 

 

"I don’t know about it so much. The question is: is it true? Being a lawyer and a judge, I still want to verify it [whether she was to be awarded the prize]."

"The last thing I did was the report on Gaza naming what’s happening there as genocide."

"One of the main reactions to that report was people [complimented] me for my courage. You can imagine how surprised I was. Why would you need courage to speak the truth. You interpret the law. You look at all the facts, so it’s an impartial decision."

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, Nobel Laureate  

Navi Pillay, then-U.N. high commissioner for human rights, addresses the ninth session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, September 2008. Credit: Jean-Marc Ferré/U.N. Photo

 

 The inventor of dynamite felt so conscience-stricken over his genius invention that of course had peacetime applications, but would also and obviously be used in conflict situations, blowing up both enemy installations and innocent civilian lives, that he felt he had to somehow make amends. The hugely respected Nobel prizes in recognition of human endeavours in the fields of medicine, science, the arts and the art of peace salved his conscience. While he was the discoverer of a means to end lives, that was clearly not his intent. Now he is known as one whose legacy is that of a truly noble endeavour; to recognize and reward human intelligence, ingenuity and genius.

Yasser Arafat, Palestine Liberation Organization, Egyptian Palestinian Leader, Nobel Peace Prize1994

 

In being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, this accomplished lawyer, human rights advocate and internationally respected past director of many United Nations committees upholding all the qualities that the international body has traditionally promoted, respected and supported, this woman stands out as an icon of courage to many, and inchoate hateful bigotry to others. Just as the United Nations has chosen to make an exceptional example of the tiny state of Israel as a human rights denier for refusing to allow itself to be threatened with annihilation, citing a plethora of 'human rights violations' it attributes to a genuinely dedicated democratic state for which human rights is inviolable, so too has Ms. Pillay distinguished herself by her contemptuous regard for Israel, naming it for what it most positively is not -- genocidal.

 

On the surface, Ms. Pillay's extensive experience in international law and human rights prepared her for the recognition that is now universally held to be her right. Now 85, she is a former UN high commissioner for human rights. In her role as chairwoman of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, inclusive of East Jerusalem and Israel, her commission issued a 72-page report in 2025 whose conclusion was that Israel was guilty of committing genocide in Gaza against Palestinians. 

"[Awarding the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Pillay represents a] grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice."

"If there were a prize for lies, hatred and blood libels, Navi Pillay would not merely be a candidate -- she would be the front-runner."

"Now that the Nobel Committee has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is surely applauding from hell."

Israeli Foreign Ministry 

Grotesquely, ironically, Pillay spoke at the very same Nuremberg courtroom in Germany, the site of the trials held to hold Nazi leaders to account for the atrocities of the Second World War. Where death sentences were handed out to 24 of the 177 defendants, another 20 of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment. Of the total 98 others were given variable prison sentences, several were sentenced in absentia, while 7 including Hess and Speer were sent to Spandau Prison where the four wartime powers, Britain, France, Russia and the United States took turns guarding and caring for their welfare. History will also judge Navi Pillay. 

"At the Nuremberg Court ... I cannot think of a stronger symbol for the devastating collapse of the human rights institutions and principles you were entrusted to uphold and protect, equally and consistently."

"Never again is now."

Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israeli special envoy for combatting antisemitism  

Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, Archives 1945