From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Nobel Peace Prize winner Pillay says Israel’s reaction to her win was ‘hurtful and insulting’
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Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay hits out at US President Donald Trump’s “illegal” sanctions against the International Criminal Court, and says Israel’s reaction to her win was “hurtful and insulting.”
Upon the announcement of her win, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Pillay a “bigot” while the Foreign Ministry said Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be “applauding from hell” at her award. Pillay headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which found last year that genocide was occurring in Gaza, a charge Israel strongly denies.
In an interview with AFP, Pillay says “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 adds.
Pillay also says it was no coincidence that fresh US sanctions on the ICC were announced just hours after her Nobel win, as a “reaction to the fact that the award was not given to President Trump.”
Trump’s administration has vowed to dismantle the court “brick-by-brick,” furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for alleged crimes in Gaza.
She acknowledges that there is little political appetite to arrest Netanyahu to face the ICC accusations, which he furiously denies.
“But all my life I’ve seen people get around difficulties, so I’m confident that it will happen,” she says, asked if Netanyahu is ever likely to appear in the ICC dock.
The Times of Israel Community.