Navi Pillay, the South African judge named the latest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should face prosecution for alleged war crimes, expressing confidence that he would eventually stand trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Pillay, a longtime critic of Israel, made the remarks days after receiving the prestigious award, a decision that prompted strong condemnation from Netanyahu and Israel's Foreign Ministry.
Following Friday's announcement, Netanyahu accused the Nobel Committee of honoring an individual who had spent years advancing accusations against the Jewish state.
"The Nobel Prize committee has lost its moral compass. It has awarded its highest honor to a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the one and only Jewish state," Netanyahu said.
Israel's Foreign Ministry issued a separate condemnation, declaring that Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels would be “applauding from hell".
In an interview with The Telegraph on Wednesday, Pillay rejected the comparison to Goebbels and described the Israeli criticism as offensive.
“I think it’s very hurtful and insulting. Goebbels had blood on his hands ... responsible for the death of thousands of people. Not only Jews, but people of color like me," she said.
Pillay acknowledged that there was currently little political willingness to arrest Netanyahu and bring him before the ICC.
Nevertheless, she expressed confidence that the political obstacles could eventually be overcome.
“But all my life I’ve seen people get around difficulties, so I’m confident that it will happen," she said when asked whether Netanyahu would ever appear before the court.
In a separate interview with Sky News, Pillay reiterated her demand for legal proceedings against Israeli leaders, referring to a controversial report in which she concluded that Israeli military operations in Gaza had disproportionately targeted civilians, including children.
“Our recommendation, our finding, is that the president, prime minister Netanyahu, and the former minister of defense should be put on trial," she said.
“They should be prosecuted either by national courts or by the International Criminal Court, the most likely international court that would be able to put these individuals on trial."
Pillay's latest statements follow more than a decade of public criticism of Israeli military operations and government policies, particularly during conflicts with Hamas in Gaza.
In 2014, while serving as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, she accused Israel of "targeting" UN-operated schools and hospitals during the fighting in Gaza.
Her criticism did not address the discovery that three UN-run schools had been used to store rockets, an action that constituted a serious violation of international law and could potentially amount to a war crime.
Earlier during the same conflict, Pillay convened an emergency UN debate on Gaza and warned of a "strong possibility" that Israeli military operations had violated international law and could constitute war crimes.
She also questioned whether Israel had taken adequate precautions to protect civilians, particularly children, and whether its military operations complied with the international legal principle of proportionality.
Pillay subsequently assumed another prominent role in UN investigations concerning Israel.
In 2021, following renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas, the UN Human Rights Council appointed her to chair a commission investigating allegations of “systematic" abuses in Israel and Palestinian Authority territories.
Israel refused to cooperate with the investigation, citing Pillay's previous statements and what Israeli officials regarded as her longstanding bias against the country.
Among the positions highlighted by Israeli authorities were Pillay's endorsement of “the shameful libel" characterizing Israel as an apartheid state and her support for the international boycott movement targeting Israel.