DOMINANT ANGLE
Rome sees this Nobel Prize as a political message to Washington and Jerusalem, and is particularly struck by the violent reactions of Netanyahu and Trump.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The Nobel Committee distinguished Navi Pillay, 85, for ensuring that "war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide" are prosecuted (ANSA, La Repubblica).
- 02
Netanyahu accused Pillay of "demonizing Jews" and the Israeli Foreign Ministry invoked "Goebbels applauding from hell" (ANSA, La Repubblica).
- 03
Guterres hailed Pillay as a "champion of international law", stating that "the force of law must prevail over the law of force" (Libero Quotidiano).
ANALYSIS
Rome, October 10, 2026. The Italian press welcomes the Nobel Peace Prize awarded on Friday, October 9, to Navanethem "Navi" Pillay as a gesture with political implications. La Repubblica sees it as "a prize for the defense of international law, at a time when its institutions are increasingly under attack" and believes the choice has political significance in the face of challenges to the multilateral system. ANSA quotes the Norwegian committee's phrase: ensuring that "war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide are prosecuted".
The agencies detail the laureate's career: born in 1941, a lawyer in the fight against apartheid, the first non-white woman judge on the High Court of South Africa, then a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and at the ICC, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. ANSA notes that the committee's president, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, was keen to specify that the decision was not related to the war in Gaza, while recalling that Pillay chaired the UN commission of inquiry that accused Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip. Having learned the news in Nuremberg, she made a joke reported by both media outlets: "If you applaud a little louder, I might share the prize with Trump". She dedicated the prize "to all survivors of international crimes".
The Italian account then highlights the response. According to ANSA, Benyamin Netanyahu stated that "Pillay demonizes Jews" and that she "built a false case against Israel"; the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched that "Joseph Goebbels is certainly applauding from hell", a quote repeated even in La Repubblica's title. Donald Trump shared a message on Truth judging the prize "an irreparable shame", and then the United States sanctioned the ICC a few hours later, the agency explicitly linking this decision to the announcement.
Libero Quotidiano, via the Vista agency, gives the floor to Antonio Guterres, who hails Pillay as "a champion of international law" and states that "the force of law must prevail over the law of force". La Repubblica adds an additional insight: Pillay had resigned in 2017 from the FIFA governance committee, denouncing "inopportune interference" and pressure from the management led by Gianni Infantino.
