GENEVA: Navi Pillay, the UN investigator who recently accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, has drawn chilling parallels between the crisis and the 1994 Rwanda genocide. She expressed hope that one day Israeli leaders could face justice for their actions, even though such processes often take years.
Pillay, a South African former judge who once led the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and served as the UN’s human rights chief, acknowledged the difficulty of achieving accountability. Quoting Nelson Mandela, she noted that justice “always seems impossible until it’s done,” adding that arrests and trials in the future should not be ruled out.
Her Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which works independently of the UN, issued a report this week claiming that genocide is taking place in Gaza. The report accused Israeli leaders, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, of inciting genocide. Israel dismissed the findings as “false and distorted.”
Reflecting on her time overseeing Rwanda’s genocide tribunal, Pillay recalled the haunting images of civilians being massacred, saying those experiences had marked her for life and gave her clarity in recognizing patterns of atrocities today.
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