It must be painful for the Nobel Committee and the authorities to read the Wall Street Journal’s relentless criticism of the award.
It is possible that the Nobel Committee may one day award the Peace Prize to a less deserving recipient than Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay, but we doubt it. This year, the self-important committee members in Oslo have honoured an 85-year-old South African whose career has, above all, been characterised by hatred of Israel and the Jews who support that country.
A leader such as this attracts attention all over the world. The Nobel Committee has brought shame upon Norway on the international stage.
This was no ordinary controversial prize, but a disaster.
It is also a damning verdict on Espen Barth Eide and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ peace diplomacy over the last thirty years.
The WSJ writes that Pillay is receiving the prize for her persecution of the Jewish state, using legal provisions as weapons.
The Nobel Committee is honouring her career, which has since been devoted to attacking the Jewish state and to distorting international law in order to twist the meaning of the term ‘genocide’ for precisely this purpose.
Norway is now one of the countries associated with branding Israel as guilty of genocide. That is no badge of honour. The fact that they share this stance with several other countries in Western Europe is cold comfort.
Pillay has gained a reputation as an Israel-hater. That is well known. It has long been known that her home country, South Africa, distinguishes itself by targeting Israel in international forums. Norway has found itself in bad company.
Her 2025 report presented no evidence of genocide or intent to commit genocide, and ignored vast amounts of evidence to the contrary. Nevertheless, the accusation was made. Yet her report treated Hamas’s massacre as an almost justified reaction. Terrorism is regarded as peace, whilst defending oneself against it is genocide. George Orwell foresaw this.
In her parallel role as a judge at the International Court of Justice, where she is leading the proceedings on allegations of war crimes in Myanmar, Pillay, as these columns pointed out last month, has worked to lower the threshold for charges of genocide. Why? Because a less stringent standard would make it easier for Pillay’s South Africa – which hosted Hamas delegations in the weeks following 7 October – to carry out its act of retaliation against Israel.
Norway is no longer on the same wavelength as those who would like the Nobel Peace Prize to mean something. The awarding of the prize to Liu Xiaobo in 2010 was a proud moment. This time, the prize could have been awarded to Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong newspaper publisher who is rotting in a Chinese prison.
But that is unthinkable given the policies espoused by Støre and the Norwegian elite.
Nor do they want to hear any talk of China flouting the arbitration tribunal when it establishes bases on artificial islands in the South China Sea.
China has reneged on its treaty with the UK to grant Hong Kong autonomy, and the country has rejected the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s 2016 ruling against Beijing’s illegal claims in the South China Sea. The Nobel Committee could have honoured the publisher Jimmy Lai, who is imprisoned in Hong Kong for supporting democracy.
A search on NTB yields no results for ‘Peace Prize reactions’. People seem to agree that the prize was well deserved and do not wish to hear any criticism.
Norway has become autistic.
