“When a jihadist terrorist organization like Hamas applauds a Nobel Peace Prize, the moral judgment of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee is rightly called into question.”
By United with Israel Staff
The Hamas terrorist organization, responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre, is celebrating the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
The group welcomed the decision to honor South African jurist Navi Pillay, praising her record of accusing Israel of grave crimes and calling the award an “important step” toward international action against the Jewish state.
The extraordinary spectacle of Hamas applauding a prize dedicated to peace drew a scathing response from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
“When a jihadist terrorist organization like Hamas applauds a Nobel Peace Prize, the moral judgment of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee is rightly called into question,” the ministry said.
“Hamas murdered, raped, and kidnapped civilians on October 7. Now, the perpetrators of that massacre are celebrating Navi Pillay, whose career has been marked by repeated antisemitic rhetoric and relentless hostility toward Israel.”
“This isn’t just a disgrace. It’s a moral failure,” the ministry concluded.
In its statement congratulating Pillay, Hamas specifically praised her work as chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The terrorist group hailed the commission’s conclusion that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and said Pillay’s Nobel Prize represented “serious international recognition” of what it described as Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.
Hamas also called for further international legal action against Israeli officials.
Pillay, a former UN high commissioner for human rights, chaired the commission from its establishment in 2021 until 2025.
Under her leadership, the commission leveled some of the most severe accusations against Israel during the Gaza war, including allegations that Israel committed genocide, deliberately used starvation against Palestinians and carried out acts “calculated to bring about the destruction of a people.”
Israel has categorically rejected those allegations as false and politically motivated, stressing that its war has been directed against Hamas rather than Gaza’s civilian population.
Israel has pointed to the IDF’s efforts to warn civilians, facilitate humanitarian aid and reduce civilian casualties while fighting Hamas, which embeds its military infrastructure and operatives within densely populated civilian areas.
Israeli officials have also accused Pillay’s commission of selectively using evidence, relying on unverified sources and omitting Hamas’s atrocities while advancing its accusations against the Jewish state.
Pillay has separately expressed support for the BDS campaign against Israel and backed calls for punitive measures against the country, including an arms embargo.
Israel had already reacted furiously to Pillay’s selection before Hamas issued its statement.
“If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner,” the Foreign Ministry said following the announcement.
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