Israel genocide claims: Nobel panel takes no stand

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Friday it was not taking a position on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, after awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to South African judge Navi Pillay, who led a UN inquiry commission that said genocide was occurring there.

Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes told AFP that the finding was the work of the UN inquiry commission and that international courts should rule on the issue. "The Nobel Committee is not the court," he said.

Pillay chaired the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which does not speak for the United Nations as a whole. The commission last year found that genocide was occurring in Gaza. Israel rejected its findings as "distorted and false".

When announcing the prize, Frydnes referred to Pillay's role chairing the commission but did not mention Gaza or Israel. He also cited her work on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and her current role as a judge at the International Court of Justice in a case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide.

Frydnes said Pillay had been instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.