TEL AVIV, October 9. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Nobel Committee of losing its "moral compass" after awarding the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African lawyer and human rights activist Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, who served as the UN high commissioner for human rights in 2008-2014.

"The Nobel Prize committee has lost its moral compass. It has awarded its highest honor to a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the one and only Jewish state," he said in a statement released by his office.

The Israeli foreign ministry, in turn, slammed the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Pillay as "a grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice." "Her role in the relentless, politically motivated demonization of Israel and promotion of the genocide lie speaks volumes," it said in a statement.

Earlier, the Norwegian Nobel Committee stated that it decided to honor Pillay "for her efforts to promote peace and international law." Pillay,85, has served as a judge on the High Court of South Africa, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the International Criminal Court. She served as the UN high commissioner for human rights and, until recently, chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Today, Pillay is a judge on the International Court of Justice, which is hearing a case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide.