Nobel Peace Prize Recipient's Article On Gaza Genocide

 

The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to South African attorney and judge Navanethem "Navi" Pillay for her lifetime of work defending human rights. Here (from The New York Times) is an article she wrote last year on genocide in Gaza (while serving as chair of the U.N. Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory).

In 1995 President Nelson Mandela of South Africa asked me to serve as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The judicial panel over which I presided convicted three Rwandans of genocide. So I understand the word “genocide,” and it is not one I use lightly. It is the deliberate attempt to destroy, in whole or in part, a people. It represents the most serious violation of our shared humanity and the gravest breach of international law.

Today the United Nations commission that I lead is publishing its legal analysis of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip. Our conclusion is stark: Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This finding is based on investigations and extensive evidence into the period between Oct. 7, 2023, when the war began, and July 31, 2025. It has been corroborated by multiple sources and assessed through the rigorous legal framework of the U.N. Genocide Convention of 1948, to which Israel is a party.

My organization, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, was established by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in 2021. It is overseen by appointed experts who are supported by staff from the U.N. secretariat. The Commission reports its findings to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly.

The scale of destruction is devastating. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 18,000 children and nearly 10,000 women, according to Gazan health officials. Estimated life expectancy in Gaza has collapsed from 75 years to just over 40 in a single year, one of the steepest declines recorded. Hospitals, schools, churches, mosques and entire neighborhoods have been destroyed. Our analysis found that starvation has been used as a weapon of war and that the medical system has been deliberately destroyed. Maternal health care has been severely undermined. Children have been starved, shot and buried under rubble. According to UNICEF, one child has died every hour in Gaza. These are not the accidents of war. They are acts calculated to bring about the destruction of a people.

Establishing genocide requires not only the act but also the intent. Here, too, the evidence is clear. Senior Israeli leaders, including the president, the prime minister and the former defense minister, have dehumanized Palestinians. Yoav Gallant, the defense minister at the time of the Oct. 7 attacks, said, “We are fighting human animals,” while President Isaac Herzog proclaimed that the entire Palestinian nation was responsible. Their words have been matched by deeds: indiscriminate bombardment making Gaza uninhabitable, the blocking of humanitarian aid, sexual and gender-based violence and a siege we concluded was designed to starve the population to death. Together these constitute a pattern that demonstrates genocidal intent.

The commission also found that Palestinians have been killed while seeking food at distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the Israel and U.S.-backed entity that largely replaced the existing aid network. Hundreds, including children, have been shot while trying to access aid.

Some argue that the term “genocide” is too grave to apply while Israel’s war continues. But the law is explicit: The obligation to prevent genocide arises the moment a serious risk is evident. That threshold was crossed long ago in this war. In January 2024 the International Court of Justice put all states on notice that there was a serious risk that genocide was being committed in Gaza. Since then, the evidence has only deepened, and the killing has multiplied.

What does this mean for the international community? It means its obligations are not optional. Every state has an obligation to prevent genocide wherever it occurs. That obligation requires action: halting the transfer of weapons and military support used in genocidal acts, ensuring unimpeded humanitarian assistance, stopping the mass displacement and destruction, and using all available diplomatic and legal means to stop the killing. To do nothing is not neutrality. It is complicity.

I do not write these words as an adversary of Israel. I recognize the suffering of Israelis who lost loved ones in the horrific Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, which killed some 1,200 people, and the pain of the families of the roughly 50 hostages who remain in captivity, including about 20 still believed to be alive. Our commission has documented the crimes by Hamas. But no crime, however grave, justifies genocide. To respond to atrocity with atrocity is to abandon the very values international law was created to protect.

History will judge how the world responds. In Rwanda, the international community did not prevent the genocide, nor did it intervene to stop the killing once the genocide began. Today the international community is again failing to act — this time, in Gaza. The facts are reported daily. The warnings are unequivocal. The law is clear. The stakes, the survival of a people, could not be higher.

The obligation to prevent genocide belongs not only to states but also to the international system as a whole. The U.N. Security Council must not be the graveyard of conscience. Regional organizations, national parliaments, civil society and ordinary citizens all have a role to play in pressing governments to act. The Genocide Convention was born from the ashes of the Holocaust with a solemn vow: “Never again.” That vow is meaningless if it applies only to some and not to others.

I urge every government, every leader and every citizen to ask: What will we say when our children and grandchildren ask what we did while Gaza was burned to the ground? Every act of genocide is a test of the humanity that binds us.

The prevention of genocide is not a matter of discretion of states. It is a legal and moral obligation, and it admits no delay. The law requires action. Our common humanity demands it.

"No President In American History Deserves The Nobel Peace Prize Less Than Donald J. Trump"

Robert Reich comments on Donald Trump's desire for a Nobel Peace Prize:

Trump recently had his name engraved on the U.S. Institute of Peace — now renamed the “Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace.” On Wednesday, the White House confirmed the renaming, calling it “a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability.”

Actually, it’s a reminder of what a strong malignant narcissist can accomplish when untethered from reality. 

On Friday, Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, the world football league, awarded Trump the first (and likely last) annual FIFA Peace Prize — along with a hagiographic video of Trump and “peace.”

What FIFA has to do with peace is anyone’s guess, but Infantino is evidently trying to curry favor with Trump. (Infantino, by the way, oversaw the 2020 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, defending and minimizing Qatar’s miserable human rights record. He also played a key role in selecting Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, notwithstanding the Saudi murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.)

Both Trump’s absurd renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace and the equally absurd FIFA award are parts of Trump’s campaign to get the Nobel Peace Prize — something he has coveted since Barack Obama was awarded it in 2009 (anything Obama got credited with, Trump wants to discredit or match).

 

Too late for this year. The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to María Corina Machado of Venezuela “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” (The prize is awarded annually on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, in a formal ceremony at the Oslo City Hall. Trump has his eye on the 2026 prize.)

Ironically, Trump has declared war on Venezuela, without congressional authorization — causing the death so far of at least 87 people bombed by American military jets targeting vessels allegedly carrying drugs into the United States. 

Those 87 include two people who barely survived a first bombing, only to be bombed again. (Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who saw a video of the second strike in a closed-door briefing, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” yesterday that the two survivors “were barely alive, much less engaging in hostilities,” when the follow-up strike took place.)

Trump has designated a Venezuelan criminal group — Cartel de los Soles — as a Foreign Terrorist Organization led by Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Yet analysts have pointed out that the Cartel de los Soles is not a hierarchical group but an umbrella term used to describe corrupt Venezuelan officials who have allowed cocaine to transit through the country.

Could it be that Trump wants access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves?

He doesn’t seem to be particularly upset about cocaine trafficking. While he’s bombing small vessels in the Caribbean allegedly for smuggling fentanyl into the United States, Trump is pardoning Honduras’ former president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of trafficking large amounts of cocaine into the United States. 

Trump is also in the process of giving eastern Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s golf pal and itinerant diplomat, has offered Yuri Ushakov, Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy adviser, a plan for carving up disputed territory in a way likely to appeal to Putin.

 

As revealed in a transcript of a recent meeting, Witkoff told Ushakov, “Now, me to you, I know what it’s going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere.”

Witkoff also advised Ushakov on how Putin can get the best deal for Russia — by having Putin flatter America’s narcissist-in-chief: 

”Make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement [in Gaza], that you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen.” 

Ushakov responded: 

“Hey Steve, I agree with you that he will congratulate, he will say that Mr. Trump is a real peace man and so-and-so. That he will say.” 

While Witkoff has been seeking a “peace” deal in Ukraine by giving Putin much of what Putin wants, Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner have been seeking billions of dollars in business deals with Russia. It’s a brazen conflict of interest. 

Witkoff spoke on the record to The Wall Street Journal, characterizing the talks with Russia over oil, gas, and rare-earth minerals as “a bulwark against future conflicts there. Because everybody’s thriving.” 

Everyone’s thriving, that is, except Ukrainians and those conscripted into the Russian army. 

Other potential beneficiaries of the deal include ExxonMobil, along with a Trump donor and college pal of Donald Trump Jr. with the improbable name Gentry Beach. Beach hopes to acquire a 9.9 percent stake in a Russian Arctic gas project.

Meanwhile, Trump has allowed Benjamin Netanyahu to continue bombing Gaza, even after declaring a ceasefire there. 

Peace prize? Please. 

Trump is taking credit for achieving “peace” between nations that weren’t even at war. 

He’s also trying to change the name of the Department of Defense back to the Department of War. 

And he’s conjuring up “enemies within” the United States as pretexts for prosecuting political opponents, attacking American universities, and attempting to stifle media criticism of himself and his administration.

According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is awarded to the person who in the preceding year “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Nobel’s will further specified that the prize be awarded by a committee of five people chosen by the Norwegian Parliament.

Memo to the Norwegian Parliament and the Nobel committee: No president in American history deserves the Nobel Peace Prize less than does Donald J. Trump.

Peace Is Possible In Ukraine - But Not The Way Trump Is Trying To Do it

Donald Trump promised during the last campaign that he would have peace in Ukraine on his first day in office. Now, eleven months later, that peace still seems very far away. 

Trump has tried several times to end the Russia-Ukraine war and failed. His latest attempt was a 28 point plan that he demanded Ukraine accept. Sadly, it was so bad that Putin himself couldn't a written a plan more favorable to Russia. The plan was unacceptable to Ukraine (and its European allies) and has been changed. Now it is unacceptable to Russia. 

The crazy thing is that peace is possible in Ukraine, but Trump has been going about it all wrong. He has been favoring Russia and pressuring Ukraine. That's just the opposite of what needs to be done.

Trump seems to think that Ukraine is on a path to defeat while Russia is in a strong position. Neither is true. Ukraine is fighting for its life, and cannot give up or surrender. And Russia is in a weaker position than the media would have us believe.

The truth is that in the last two years Russia has only increased it control of Ukrainian territory by a scant 1% - and it has cost them 200,000 dead and wounded soldiers to do that. And while Russia keeps bombing Ukraine on a daily basis, Ukraine (with long-range drones) is hitting Russia back on a daily basis. And while Ukraine can't surrender, it remains to be seen how long Russia can continue the war with the costs it is incurring.

Instead of pressuring Ukraine, Trump should be putting some real pressure on Russia. After all, it is Russia that invaded Ukraine.

Trump has threatened severe economic sanctions on Russia and to give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, but backed off both when Putin praised him (played him!). He needs to follow through on both of those things - and more. He needs to make it clear that the U.S. will continue to give Ukraine all the weaponry it needs, and then threaten to accept Ukraine into NATO (and the European Union). 

Russia is hurting. And some real pressure on them would make all the difference. Putin might finally realize they cannot continue a war they cannot win.

Sadly, Trump won't do that. He will be continued to be outsmarted by Putin. And he will continue to fail in his efforts for a "peace" plan. He's just not smart enough to know who America's real friends are - and who its enemies are. 

Trump's "Peace Plan" Gives Russia Everything It Wants - It's A Bad Plan

Donald Trump has come up with a "peace plan" for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sadly, it gives Russia everything it wants, while denying Ukraine the ironclad guarantees it needs. I think it's a bad plan, but Trump is threatening to abandon Ukraine if they don't agree.

Here is Trump's plan:

Here is the text of a draft version of the 28-point peace plan for Ukraine backed by the United States, according to a copy seen by Reuters

1. Ukraine's sovereignty to be reconfirmed.

2. There will be a total and complete comprehensive non-aggression agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Europe. All ambiguities of the last 30 years will be considered resolved.

3. There will be the expectation that Russia will not invade its neighbours and NATO will not expand further.

4. A dialogue between Russia and NATO, moderated by the United States, will convene to address all security concerns and create a de-escalatory environment to ensure global security and increase the opportunities for connectivity and future economic opportunity.

5. Ukraine will receive robust security guarantees.

6. The size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be capped at 600,000.

7. Ukraine agrees to enshrine in its constitution that it will not join NATO, and NATO agrees to pass in its bylaws not to accept Ukraine at any point in the future.

8. NATO agrees not to station any troops in Ukraine.

9. European fighter jets will be stationed in Poland.

10. The U.S. guarantee:

a. The U.S. to receive compensation for the guarantee;

b. If Ukraine invades Russia, it forfeits the guarantee;

c. If Russia invades Ukraine, in addition to a robust coordinated military response, all global sanctions will be restored and recognition for the new territory and all other benefits from this agreement will be withdrawn;

d. If Ukraine fires a missile at Moscow or St. Petersburg then, the security guarantee will be considered null and void.

11. Ukraine is eligible for EU membership and will get short-term preferred market access to the European market while this issue is being evaluated.

12. Robust Global Redevelopment Package for Ukraine including but not limited to:

a. Creation of Ukraine Development Fund to invest in high-growth industries including technology, data centers, and AI efforts.

b. The United States will partner with Ukraine to jointly restore, grow, modernize, and operate Ukraine's gas infrastructure, which includes its pipelines and storage facilities.

c. A joint effort to redevelop areas impacted by the war to restore, redevelop and modernize cities and residential areas.

d. Infrastructure development.

e. Mineral and natural resource extraction.

f. A special financing package will be developed by The World Bank to provide financing to accelerate these efforts.

13. Russia to be re-integrated into the global economy:

a. Sanction relief will be discussed and agreed upon in phases and on a case-by-case basis.

b. The United States will enter into a long-term Economic Co-operation Agreement to pursue mutual development in the areas of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centers, rare earth metal projects in the Arctic as well as other mutually beneficial corporate opportunities.

c. Russia to be invited back into the G8.

14. Frozen funds will be used as follows:

$100 billion of the frozen Russian funds will be invested in a US-led effort to reconstruct and invest in Ukraine. The US will receive 50% of the profits from this venture. Europe will match this $100 billion contribution to increase the investment available to rebuild Ukraine. The European funds that are frozen will be released. The balance of the frozen Russian funds will be invested in a separate US-Russia investment vehicle that will pursue joint United States Russia projects in areas to be defined. This fund will aim to strengthen the relationship and increase joint interests to build a strong motivation not to return to conflict.

15. A joint US-Russian Security taskforce will be established to promote and enforce compliance with all of the provisions of this agreement.

16. Russia will legislatively enshrine a non-aggression policy towards Europe and Ukraine.

17. The United States and Russia will agree to extend nuclear non-proliferation control treaties, including the START I Treaty.

18. Ukraine agrees to be a non-nuclear state under the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons).

19. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant will be restarted under supervision of the IAEA, and the produced power shall be equitably in a 50-50 split between Russia and Ukraine.

20. Both countries commit to education programs in schools and throughout their society that promotes the understanding and tolerance of different cultures and eliminates racism and bias:

a. Ukraine will adopt EU rules of religious tolerance and the protection of linguistic minorities.

b. Both countries agree to repeal all discriminatory measures and guarantee the rights of Ukrainian and Russian media and education.

c. All Nazi ideology or activity should be renounced and forbidden.

21. Territories:

a. Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk to be recognized De-Facto as Russian, including by the United States.

b. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be frozen at the contact line, which would mean a De-Facto recognition at the contact line.

c. Russia to give up other agreed upon territories they control outside of the five regions

d. Ukrainian forces will withdraw from the part of Donetsk region that they currently control, and this withdrawal area will be considered a neutral demilitarized buffer zone, internationally recognized as territory belonging to the Russian Federation. Russian forces will not enter this demilitarized zone.

22. Once future territorial arrangements have been agreed, both the Russian Federation and Ukraine undertake not to change these arrangements by force. Any security guarantees will not apply in the event of a breach of this obligation.

23. Russia shall not obstruct Ukraine's use of the Dnieper River for purposes of commercial activities and agreements will be reached for grain shipments to move freely through the Black Sea.

24. A humanitarian committee will be established to resolve open issues:

a. All remaining prisoners and bodies will be exchanged on the principle of 'all for all'.

b. All civilian detainees and hostages will be returned, including children.

c. There will be a family reunification program

d. Provisions will be made to address the suffering of victims from the conflict.

25. Ukraine to hold elections in 100 days.

26. All parties involved in this conflict will receive full amnesty for wartime actions during the war and agree not to pursue claims or further settle grievances.

27. This agreement will be legally binding. Its implementation will be monitored and guaranteed by a Board of Peace, Chaired by President Donald J. Trump. There will be penalties for violation.

28. Upon all sides agreeing to this memorandum, a ceasefire will be immediately effective upon both parties withdrawing to the agreed upon points for the implementation of the agreement to begin. 

The Many Reasons Why Trump Should NEVER Get The Nobel Peace Prize

It's no secret that Donald Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize. He's said it many times - and has even called a member of the Nobel Prize board to lobby for it. The problem is he doesn't seem to understand that the prize is not some political gift - it is an award that must be earned.

The way the prize is earned is by doing selfless work to promote peace, human rights, and democracy - work that makes the world a better place for everyone.  Most of Trump's actions have done just the opposite.

* Trump is a bully, and has tried to bully other countries into supporting his desires by putting tariffs on almost every nation in the world.

* He withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Accords, severely restricted the U.S. from advancing safe and renewable forms of energy, and promoted the increased use of fossil fuels - making it much more likely the world will not be able to avoid crucial tipping points on global climate change.

* He has given huge tax cuts to the rich, and partially paid for it by kicking millions of Medicaid roles and eliminating increased subsidies for private insurance causing millions more to be unable to afford the increase in insurance premiums - resulting in the increase of millions without any health insurance and increasing the likelihood that many rural hospitals will close their doors.

* He has sent troops into many large American cities to intimidate the citizens by claiming a fraudulent "state of emergency".

* He has perverted the Department of Justice - turning it into a vehicle for him to attack his critics and political opponents.

* After claiming he was going after immigrant criminals, he has used an enlarged and empowered ICE to arrest hard-working men and women (and children) with no criminal records.

* Without proof or due process, he has instructed the Defense department to attack and kill persons in boats in international waters. This was nothing short of murder!

* He has usurped the constitutional power of Congress to control the national budget.

* He has tried to "whitewash" American history, and destroyed rules designed to enhance the equality and opportunity of nonwhites.

* He has encouraged states to redistrict to give his party an unfair advantage in elections.

* He has used his office to make himself (and his family) much richer, while increasing inflation that makes life harder for most Americans.

* Even though he finally bullied Netanyahu into finally stopping the killing of Palestinians, he still supports the Israeli theft of Palestinian land, and refuses to support the Palestinians right to self-determination and a state of their own.

Trump's actions have done nothing to further peace, human (or political) rights, or democracy in the world. He has not earned consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize, and it is unlikely that he ever will.