The title of this article is not a joke, nor is it clickbait. I have solid reasons with which to argue that it would be logical and fitting that the next Nobel Peace Prize should be given to the Israel Defence Force, better known as the IDF.
My argument is based on precedents, and the details are below.
1) The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize went to then U.S. President Barack Obama, who made ten times more “flying killer robot” air strikes than his predecessor to set a new record for high speed, high tech civilian deaths.
The IDF also uses air strikes to set new records for high speed, high tech civilian deaths.
2) The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize went to Liu Xiaobo, a passionate supporter of deadly American overseas interventionism, and who in particular cheered the catastrophic US wars in Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The IDF also passionately supports deadly US overseas interventionism – particularly the delivery of literally tons of powerful wide-impact missiles for their own use.
3) The 2000 Nobel Peace Prize went to South Korean leader Kim Dae-jung for achieving peace and reconciliation with North Korea, although he achieved no such thing and his government was later revealed to have quietly paid the enemy to attend meetings.
The IDF also has no interest in peace and reconciliation, and Israel’s government has quietly provided resources to the IDF’s enemy.
4) The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize went to African activist Wangari Maathai who liked to share her view that there was plenty of evidence that HIV-AIDS was developed by scientists in order to depopulate Africa.
The IDF also makes frequent statements to the media while having a shaky grasp on evidence and truth.
5) The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize went to the European Union, a decision criticised by former awardees, as the EU was at the time promoting security based on military build-ups and the waging of wars, rather than by building positive diplomatic relationships.
The IDF also dismisses positive diplomacy in favor of military build-ups and the waging of wars.
6) The 1973 Nobel Peace Prize went jointly to Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho. Kissinger had arranged a secret bombing campaign of Cambodia (1969 to 1975) and several other campaigns that were clearly against any concept of morality, let alone international law. Le Duc Tho was in government in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, when 25,000 civilians died.
The IDF has been and is currently involved with many, many acts which involve questions of morality and international law, plus massive numbers of civilian deaths.
7) Adolf Hitler was nominated for (but not given) the 1939 Nobel Peace Prize. He was nominated by Swedish Parliamentarian Erik Christian Brandt, who later denied that he seriously wanted the prize given to man accused of being a dictator with genocidal intent.
The IDF has also been accused of being led by men who act like dictators and have repeatedly made statements that indicate genocidal intent, some of which they later denied.
A Perfect fit
Given the above arguments, it is clear that the IDF, or the men leading it, such as Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, or even Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would fit very well into the list of people who have received the Noble Peace Prize.
As the above list shows (and I could have made it longer) there is plenty of evidence to show that the prize has long been bedevilled by politics to such an extent that it often cheers the opposite of what it was set up to celebrate.
Or perhaps we could make the argument the other way round. If there was one person in the twentieth century who actually did encapsulate the noble human desire to change the world for the better, while eschewing guns and bombs and disinformation, it was a man named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi, for all he achieved, was never given the Nobel Peace Prize.
I rest my case.
Nury Vittachi is the editor of Fridayeveryday.com, a new media and events group based in Hong Kong. He wrote the comedy-crime novel series The Feng Shui Detective as well as non-fiction works and novels for children.
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