Israel Denounces the Decision to Award the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led Israel’s denunciations on Friday of the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, a human rights lawyer who was drawn into the international spotlight last year when a United Nations commission she chaired found that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In a statement, Mr. Netanyahu called the decision by the Norwegian Nobel Committee misguided and said it had “lost its moral compass.” He also condemned Ms. Pillay’s work, accusing her of being prejudiced against Jews. The Israeli foreign ministry, in a post on social media , denounced it as “the grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, also questioned the integrity of the award. Honoring Ms. Pillay with the prize, he said through a spokesman, would damage “the credibility of the Nobel Committee,” and “tarnish the legacy of the distinguished laureates who have received this honor throughout history. Winning the Nobel Prize will not make her false conclusions about Israel any more truthful.” While the prize’s announcement included only a brief mention of her work on the commission’s investigation into the war in Gaza, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the work had played an important part in the decision. The September 2025 finding by the panel, the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, is among its most sweeping about the Israeli government’s conduct in the war and drew fierce criticism from Israel. The commission’s report said that some of Israel’s most senior leaders had “incited the commission of genocide.” We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe .