Netanyahu’s office says Nobel Committee has “lost its moral compass,” calls Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay a “bigot” who spread blood libels against Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office sharply condemned the decision to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, saying the Norwegian Nobel Committee had “lost its moral compass” by giving its highest honor to a jurist it described as a “bigot.” The statement accused Pillay of building her career around “inventing and propagating blood libels” against Israel and of contributing to what it called the demonization of Jews.

Netanyahu’s office also attacked Pillay over her work on international investigations involving Israel and accused her of providing material later used by International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan to build what it described as a “fake case” against Israeli leaders.

The statement said the Nobel Committee was now honoring a woman who had contributed to a “travesty of justice.” It followed a separate condemnation from Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which accused Pillay of promoting what it called the Gaza “genocide lie” and said the award legitimized anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.

Pillay chaired the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. In 2025, the commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a finding Israel strongly rejected. The commission had also previously accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups of war crimes over the October 7, 2023 attacks.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Pillay the 2026 Peace Prize for her decades of work advancing peace and international law. The 85-year-old South African jurist previously served as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and as a judge at the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.