“Goebbels would have applauded.” Israel outraged by the Nobel Peace Prize for Navanethem "Navi" Pillay

Israeli diplomacy compared the Nobel Committee's decision to the actions of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. "Now that the Nobel Committee has awarded the greatest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels will surely applaud it from hell," X wrote.

According to Israeli authorities, Pillay's award is a "grotesque use of the award to legitimize hatred and prejudice against Israel."

Who is Navi Pillay?

Navi Pillay is an 85-year-old lawyer from South Africa, known for her fight against apartheid. During her career, she was a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Most recently, she chaired the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which last year accused Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip during the war that has been ongoing since 2023. Israel has strongly rejected these allegations, calling the report "scandalous."

Local authorities in the Gaza Strip: Over 74,000 Palestinians have already been killed

According to local authorities in the Gaza Strip, over 74,000 Palestinians have died as a result of hostilities, a significant number of them women, children and the elderly. The International Court of Justice has been conducting a case since 2024 in which, among others, South Africa accuses Israel of genocide. A similar position is taken by organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders.

Israel denies the allegations, emphasizing that it is conducting operations against terrorist groups that deliberately hide among civilians and use civilian infrastructure for attacks. According to the Israeli army, approximately 22,000 fighters from Hamas and other groups have been killed since the beginning of the war.

The war in the Gaza Strip is another chapter of the long-running Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It began with a brutal attack by Hamas on the south of Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 were kidnapped - most of the victims were civilians. The UN Commission of Inquiry, led by Pillay, concluded in 2024 that Hamas and other Palestinian groups had also committed war crimes, including torture, killings and hostage-taking.

International consequences and divisions