US President Donald Trump has issued a scathing rebuke of the Nobel Committee’s decision to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navanethem "Navi" Pillay. In a post shared on Truth Social, the President described the selection as an "indelible stain on Norway," dismissing Pillay’s career while asserting that he should have received the prize himself for his own diplomatic achievements.
"I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else! In fact, to the best of my knowledge, no one ever heard of her other than the fact that she, very obviously, hates Israel," Trump wrote. He further labeled Pillay, who served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, as a "liberal person who works at the United Nations." Trump claimed the award has been "forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy, and enemies of civilization!" This digital outburst followed comments made at a campaign rally in Syracuse, New York, on Friday, where the President branded the award as "disgraceful and embarrassing."
In his defense, Trump argued he deserved eight Nobel Peace Prizes for having "settled 8 wars." He listed these conflicts as Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Israel and Hamas. Looking ahead, he claimed he would soon "settle, or win, two more" regarding the ongoing wars in Iran and Ukraine. Pillay, who was born in Durban and has served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, appeared to respond to the criticism with a playful jab after learning of her win on Friday.
The controversy coincides with a broader escalation between Washington and international legal bodies. On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States would be sanctioning the International Criminal Court. Rubio stated that the US would "ban transactions with this rogue court," accusing the institution of "politicised actions" and of "targeting Israel." He added that the American people are "not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC." Pillay, who in 2025 chaired the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and accused Israel of genocide in Gaza, previously worked as a defense attorney for anti-apartheid activists and helped establish rights for prisoners on Robben Island.
