The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Navi Pillay, the former South African judge and 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, as a “hardline racist” and a “corrupt prosecutor” following her allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
In a post on the social media platform X on Friday, Netanyahu’s office criticised the Nobel Prize Committee, accusing it of having abandoned its moral principles by awarding its highest honour to someone it alleged had built her career on spreading slander and disinformation against Israel, which it described as the world’s only Jewish state.
The statement also accused Pillay of encouraging hostility and spreading defamatory claims against Jewish people.
Pillay, 85, chairs the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The commission investigates alleged violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory, including the Gaza Strip.
In a report published last year, the commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a finding that Israel has strongly rejected.
The commission operates under the United Nations but does not speak directly on behalf of the UN as a whole.
Pillay, a prominent advocate of international law and a former judge of South Africa’s Constitutional Court, has held several senior international positions, including serving as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The latest exchange highlights the continuing international controversy over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the legal and political disputes surrounding allegations of genocide and accountability under international law.
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