Pillay decries US sanctions on ICC, where she is ‘confident’ Netanyahu will one day stand trial

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay on Wednesday hit out at Donald Trump’s “illegal” sanctions against the International Criminal Court, saying the US president needed a lesson in international law.

In an interview with AFP, Pillay also said it was no coincidence the US sanctions on the ICC were announced just hours after her Nobel, as a “reaction to the fact that the award was not given to President Trump.”

Asked what her message was for Trump, the 85-year-old judge told AFP: “Call in your legal advisors to explain to you what international law is.”

“He should call in his advisors to tell him why we say that it is unlawful for him to interfere with an independent international court.”

On Friday, the US announced sanctions against the ICC aimed at crippling the day-to-day operations of the court, which tries individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Trump’s administration has vowed to dismantle the court “brick-by-brick,” furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged crimes in Gaza, which Israel has rejected.

Additionally, the court issued a warrant for the arrest of former defense minister Yoav Gallant. Warrants were issued for several key leaders of Hamas, who have since been killed.

Pillay noted that previous US administrations had welcomed an ICC arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “that’s selective, that’s double standards, and that’s wrong.”

The sanctions, which will hit the court’s technology and banking operations, take effect in six months, and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten has urged talks with Washington during that time to discuss reforms to the court, based in The Hague.

But Pillay said the idea of reforms to the ICC was “euphemistic,” adding that what Trump wanted was “an undertaking that they won’t pursue investigations of US citizens.”

“You can’t do that, because you can’t have double standards. You can’t selectively pursue one lot of people and not the other,” Pillay told AFP.

“It will be such a bad, dangerous precedent.”

‘Hurtful and insulting’

Pillay also hit back at Israeli officials who reacted with outrage to her Nobel, after she headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which found last year that genocide was occurring in Gaza.

Israel slammed the decision as a “grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”

Netanyahu called her a “bigot” while the Foreign Ministry said Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be “applauding from hell” at her award.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that she’d be a frontrunner if there were an award “for lies, hatred and blood libels.”

“Her role in the relentless, politically motivated demonization of Israel and promotion of the genocide lie speaks volumes,” said the MFA.

“Awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize isn’t a recognition of justice. It’s the grotesque weaponization of an award, to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.”

“Now that the Nobel commission has rewarded the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is certainly applauding from hell,” the statement said.

“I think it’s very hurtful and insulting,” said Pillay.

“Goebbels had blood on his hands….responsible for the death of thousands of people. Not only Jews, but people of colour like me,” she added.

She acknowledged there was 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 said, when asked if Netanyahu was ever likely to appear in the ICC dock.

Israel previously accused Pillay of being a “Hamas proxy” with a long history of vehemently anti-Israeli and antisemitic positions.

UN Watch, a pro-Israel monitor, has also documented Pillay’s history of anti-Israel bias.

Pillay signed a petition in June 2020 organized by the South African Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (SA BDS) Coalition, entitled “Sanction Apartheid Israel!”

Then in a May 2021 lecture, she described Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians as “inhuman” and compared Israel to apartheid South Africa.

Last year, she backed a member of the commission, Miloon Kothari, when he questioned whether Israel should be a member of the UN, and said social media was “controlled largely by the Jewish lobby.”

Pillay’s UN report on the war in Gaza made only a fleeting reference to the October 7 massacre, without any details on the attack that caused the war.

At the time of its formation, Israel said it would not cooperate with the commission, noting what it said was the UN and Pillay’s long history of anti-Israel bias, and calling the commission “morally bankrupt.”

The commission does not speak on behalf of the UN. While it is not a legal body, its reports can influence diplomatic pressure and serve to gather evidence for later use by courts.

‘Age will constrain me’

Pillay said she was still digesting the news that she had won. She found it difficult to believe at first “because they give their awards to very few women — gross inequality in the practice so far.”

At 85, she frets she will be unable to travel far and wide to sing the praises of international justice with the amplified voice of a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“I think that age will constrain me somewhat. I can’t be as active as I used to,” she said, noting that she visited 79 countries when she was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

She said she was consulting people about how best to spend the 12 million Swedish krone prize ($1.2 million) but hinted some of it might be invested in her native South Africa.

“Africa is suffering. South Africa is suffering. It’s very difficult to raise funds there,” she said.

“The University of KwaZulu-Natal has set up a unit in my name, so I’ll begin to have discussions with them. I believe in education for children and the youth.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.