Andrew L. Urban
It would be in keeping with the record of the Sydney “Peace” prize if past recipients included Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin and Mugabe. Perhaps even Hitler. And of course the late leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar.
I say this in response to the latest recipient of the prize, South African judge Navi Pillay, whose long record of weaponising international law to vilify Israel, promoting anti-Semitic tropes and whitewash Hamas atrocities – including the systematic rape of Israeli women on October 7 – utterly contradicts what should be the very purpose of this award – rewarding those leading the fight for peace.
According to its website, Sydney Peace Prize recipients are some of the world’s most effective peacemakers. They champion solutions to the most urgent global challenges and inspire us to be the change we want to see. The Prize brings the community together to recognise these extraordinary achievements. It starts vital public debate and creates a platform to ensure their voices are heard.
If only.
The award to Pillay will be presented tomorrow, November 6, 2025, by Lord Mayor Clover Moore, patron of the Sydney Peace Foundation, at a ceremony in Sydney Town Hall. Pillay will also meet with policymakers, journalists and civil-society leaders in Sydney and Canberra.
A former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and current chair of the UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Pillay has falsely accused Israel of “genocide”, “apartheid” and “war crimes”, while systematically whitewashing and minimising Hamas atrocities and weaponising international law to delegitimise the world’s only Jewish state.
This is a salient example of how the left can reverse the meaning of words from benign to malevolent.