The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to some undeserving recipients over the years, but this year’s list of nominees is beyond the pale. Among those nominated for the prize by Norwegian politicians are the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, the International Court of Justice and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The ICJ has led the headlines this year with its inversion of international law against Israel. In January the court issued a preliminary ruling in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide. It commands Israeli forces to prevent genocidal actions, something the Israeli military was already doing. In May the court ruled that Israel “must immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah and other areas “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
The Hague’s rulings are unenforceable but the court has used its perch to act as a PR mouthpiece for those who support Hamas. Its rulings would deny Israel the right to take military action to defend itself and to free hostages still held by Hamas.
Those rulings relied in part on evidence from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), the U.N.’s permanent refugee organization for Palestinians. In August a U.N. investigation acknowledged that nine Unrwa staff members may have been involved with the Oct. 7 massacre and Israel has provided persuasive evidence that the involvement was broader. The Nobel nomination for Unrwa nonetheless promotes the group for “long-term work in providing vital support to Palestine and to the region in general.”
Mr. Guterres is nominated “for his personal courage and integrity in the face of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.” On Oct. 9, 2023, before some victims of Hamas had been buried, Mr. Guterres said Hamas’s violence did “not come in a vacuum” but instead was grown from a “long-standing conflict, with a 56-year long occupation and no political end in sight.”
Mr. Guterres used his bully pulpit to pander to the League of Arab States in May, telling them that the “speed and scale” of the war in Gaza was “the deadliest conflict in my time as Secretary-General—for civilians, aid workers, journalists, and our own UN colleagues.” In October, Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz banned Mr. Guterres from entering Israel after the Secretary-General failed to “unequivocally condemn” Iran’s missile attack.
These aren’t peace makers. They’re apologists for war makers.
