Who is Navi Pillay? World leader at forefront of spread of antisemitism

"The decision to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to former U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay sparked fierce backlash Friday from Jewish advocacy groups and U.N. watchdogs accusing the South African jurist of longstanding anti-Israel bias and defending antisemitic rhetoric.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored Pillay, 85, for her contributions to international law and efforts to hold perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide accountable.

But her selection immediately reignited controversies surrounding her leadership of U.N. investigations into Israel, her defense of a fellow commissioner accused of antisemitism and positions she expressed before being appointed to investigate the Jewish state.

‘Navi Pillay is indeed a world leader, an individual at the forefront of the international spread of the poisonous forms of antisemitism that beset the 21st century,’ Anne Bayefsky, president of Human Rights Voices and director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights, told Fox News Digital.

Bayefsky accused Pillay of having ‘perfected the art of perverting legal and universal standards of human rights to demonize and delegitimize Jewish self-determination. This award stands as a testament to human wrongs.’...

Another controversy erupted in 2022 when fellow commissioner Miloon Kothari suggested that social media criticism of the investigation was controlled by the ‘Jewish lobby’ and questioned Israel's U.N. membership.

The remarks were condemned by U.S. officials, including then-State Department antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt. Pillay defended Kothari, arguing his comments had been taken out of context. Kothari subsequently apologized, calling his language inappropriate and insensitive.

The controversy also reached Germany, where Berlin's mayor withdrew support for a planned event honoring Pillay in 2022, and the event was canceled, according to The Times of Israel.

Bayefsky also recalled the 2009 U.N. anti-racism conference in Geneva, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered an inflammatory speech attacking Israel. While Western diplomats walked out, Pillay remained seated.

However, Pillay subsequently condemned his address, saying she joined the secretary-general in ‘utterly deploring the speech,’ according to the U.N.'s official transcript.

‘Her after-the-fact denunciation was utterly disingenuous.’ Bayefsky claimed, ‘Pillay had been given Ahmadinejad’s speech, questioning the veracity of the Holocaust and talking about the ‘ugly faces’ of Zionists, in advance and yet still handed him the microphone as Conference Secretary-General.’..."