To leave no doubt as to what Norway stands for, the Nobel Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to an anti-Semite. Navi Pillay played a key role in branding Zionism as racism. She is now a judge at the International Criminal Court, which Trump has declared war on because, like all supranational courts, it seeks to expand its jurisdiction.
Neither Israel nor the US has ratified the court. Nevertheless, it has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal.
If one believes one can label Israel’s Prime Minister a war criminal for having defended his country and people following the worst attack since the Holocaust, one is mistaken.
History has already passed judgement on the UN and Norway. The UN appears to be going down the same path as the League of Nations before the Second World War.
Norway has played a key role in the vilification of Israel. Espen Barth Eide has already been declared persona non grata in Israel.
The outside world must ask: Who do the Norwegians think they are?
Navi Pillay is infamously known for her role at the Durban Conference – not the first one, but the second in 2009.
Navi Pillay was not a key figure at the World Conference against Racism in Durban in 2001. At the time, she was a judge – and, from 1999, president – of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Her role lay in the follow-up: as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, she was the Secretary-General of the Durban Review Conference (often referred to as Durban II), which was held in Geneva from 20 to 24 April 2009.
The 2001 meeting had left behind a lingering controversy. The US and Israel walked out of the intergovernmental conference because of wording which they believed singled out Israel in particular and revived the notion that ‘Zionism is racism’. A parallel NGO forum was widely condemned for anti-Semitic incidents. The official outcome, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), was adopted by the majority of states and became the text to be reviewed at the 2009 follow-up conference.
Pillay regarded this review as part of her mandate. She later stated that, upon taking office, she had been warned to steer clear of the matter, and that the mayor of Durban had asked her “to save Durban’s reputation”. She argued that the main outcome of the 2001 conference remained the first global strategy against racism, that anti-Semitic behaviour by certain NGOs on the sidelines had unfairly tarnished the entire process, and that states should remain engaged rather than boycott the event.
Ten countries stayed away, including the US, Israel, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several EU member states. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s opening speech led to further walkouts. Pillay described the boycott campaign as a “widespread and highly organised disinformation campaign”, stating that characterisations of the DDPA as anti-Semitic were exaggerated or based on a lack of familiarity with the text, and pointed out that the 2009 final document states that the Holocaust must never be forgotten and condemns anti-Semitism on a par with Islamophobia and other forms of racism. She called it “bizarre” that some states had agreed to the draft and then walked out of the chamber, and regarded the conference as a success because the final document was adopted by consensus.
As Special Envoy to the West Bank and Gaza, Pillay assumed the role of prosecutor and judge. She possesses that left-wing self-righteousness which is convinced of its own righteousness and goodness. The UN has established a long tradition of such figures.
But the world has changed. The winds are blowing in a completely different direction, though the Nobel Committee seems oblivious to this.
Here, they still believe there is something to be gained by jumping on the bandwagon of the new wave of socialism and Islamofascism. It is not ‘rule-based’. If anything, it is just as rule-based as the Nuremberg Laws.
The Peace Prize is going to cost Norway dearly in lost prestige. Many will now see official Norway for what it is: a stinking-rich social democracy that feels morally superior even to the Jews on their own territory.
There is a particular malice in driving the knife into the Jews who are defending their own country and people.
Israel describes Navi Pillay’s Nobel Peace Prize as ‘a grotesque politicisation of an award to legitimise anti-Israeli hatred and prejudice’.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that she would have been one of the favourites had there been a prize ‘for lies, hatred and blood libels’.
“Her role in the relentless, politically motivated demonisation of Israel and the promotion of the genocide lie speaks for itself,” says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Pillay was head of the UN commission that accused Israel of genocide.
“Now that the Nobel Committee has rewarded the greatest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is surely applauding from hell,” says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
