President Donald Trump’s deep indignation at not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize boiled over late at night on Oct. 9, as he lashed out at the prize committee and disparaged the international jurist selected as this year’s laureate.
The U.S. president has long coveted the prize, which he says he deserves for his efforts to settle or prevent conflicts around the world. In a social media post expressing outrage at getting passed over yet again, Trump said his diplomatic accomplishments should make him more than worthy of the award.
“In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
In a year where Trump went to war with Iran and ousted Venezuela’s leader in a military operation, the Norwegian
Nobel Committee instead chose to recognize Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, a South African lawyer and former judge on the International Criminal Court, for her efforts to promote peace and international law.
Trump argued that Pillay, who has dedicated her career to promoting human rights law and investigating crimes against humanity, should not have received the prize.
“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.
Pillay led the U.N.’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which determined that Israel committed genocide in Gaza in its war against Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Pillay was at an annual conference of human rights lawyers in Nuremberg, Germany, when she learned about receiving the prize. Her colleagues erupted in cheers after learning about Pillay’s win.
“If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump," she joked, eliciting laughs from the gathered crowd.
The Nobel Committee defended the importance of international law and its institutions while awarding the prize to Pillay, a reference to the Trump administration’s pressure campaign with the International Criminal Court.
U.S. officials have targeted the court, and its judges and prosecutors, in response to a previous investigation into the conduct of U.S. service members in Afghanistan and its decision to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, over the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza.
Hours after Pillay was announced as the recipient of the award, the Trump administration imposed severe financial sanctions against the I.C.C., her former employer. The court was founded in 2002 to investigate and prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide, and other crimes against humanity.
Trump said that he and the United States – not Pillay and the I.C.C. should have been recognized with the prize by the Nobel Committee.“This is an indelible stain on Norway, one that will never be forgotten,” he wrote. “The Nobel ‘Peace’ Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of Radical Ideologues who are Anti-Democracy, and Enemies of Civilization!”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes': Trump seethes at award snub
