Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Navi Pillay, Who Accused Israel of Genocide

South African jurist Navi Pillay, the fifth UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the selection committee announced Friday in Oslo. Pillay, who also served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as a judge at the International Criminal Court, has been a vocal critic of Israel, accusing the country of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Following the announcement, Pillay joked about the accolades, suggesting she might share the prize with Donald Trump if the applause grew louder. The committee cited Pillay's "exceptional courage and integrity in leading the way toward a more comprehensive world legal order" and her "central role in ensuring that issues such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are brought to justice." Pillay, currently a judge at the International Court of Justice in a case where Myanmar accuses the Gambia of genocide, recently headed a UN commission that concluded in September 2025 that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Her report found a "reasonable basis" for four of the five acts constituting genocide under international law since the start of the current war. During the conflict, she accused Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of inciting genocide, alleging clear intent to establish permanent military control over Gaza and alter its demographic composition, with goals of ethnic cleansing and settlement remaining intact. She also condemned Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's plan to annex 82% of the West Bank and Netanyahu's approval of settlement expansion in E1, calling these plans "abhorrent" and demanding broad international condemnation.

The Nobel Peace Prize, established by Alfred Nobel's will, has been awarded annually since 1901 by a committee selected by the Norwegian Parliament. The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, approximately $1.2 million. In 2023, the prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her fight for democracy. Former President Donald Trump was also a nominee this year, though he reportedly did not exert as much pressure as in the previous year. Other recent Nobel Peace Prize laureates include organizations working for nuclear disarmament, Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, and human rights activists from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The last national leader to receive the award was Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2019.