Trump attacks Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay: ‘No one ever heard of her, she hates Israel’

U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Saturday at the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay, a South African jurist and former United Nations human rights chief who has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, claiming that virtually nobody had heard of her and that he deserved eight Nobel Peace Prizes for his diplomatic achievements. In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: "This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the Great United States of America, whose Representative, ME, settled eight Wars, and many other things. I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else!" He continued: "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 went on to argue that his record of resolving international conflicts should have earned him the prize. "I don’t know what the woman has done. I settled 8 Wars," he wrote, referring to letters he said presidents and prime ministers of the countries he had helped sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The president also claimed he was close to resolving or winning two additional conflicts, involving Iran and the war between Russia and Ukraine. He argued that any one of the eight conflicts he claimed to have settled, particularly the confrontation between India and Pakistan, would have been sufficient to justify receiving the award. "In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1," he wrote. Trump listed the eight conflicts as those between 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. The president then outlined additional achievements he said merited recognition, including the release of hostages and efforts to prevent further wars. "Additionally, I have brought 196 hostages HOME from captivity, from all over the World, and did it without having paid a ransom, unlike Biden and Obama who would pay Billions of Dollars," Trump wrote. He also claimed credit for creating what he described as a soon-to-be prosperous Arctic region and criticized the United Nations, saying it had played no meaningful role in resolving the conflicts he cited. "Despite all of this, the Nobel Prize was given today to a liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of," he wrote. "The United States of America, represented by me, as your President, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t. This is an indelible stain on Norway, one that will never be forgotten." Trump concluded with a sweeping attack on the Nobel Committee: "The Nobel 'Peace' Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of Radical Ideologues who are Anti-Democracy, and Enemies of Civilization!" Nobel Committee praises Pillay's ‘extraordinary courage’ Pillay, who was announced Friday as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is a South African jurist who previously served as the fifth United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She also served as president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as a judge at the International Criminal Court. She has been an outspoken critic of Israel, accusing it of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as genocide in Gaza. Following the announcement, Pillay was greeted with applause and cheers. Responding with a joke, she said: "If you applaud a little louder, perhaps I'll share the prize with Trump." The Nobel Committee said it selected Pillay for her "extraordinary courage and integrity" in advancing a more comprehensive international legal order. It credited her with playing a central role in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are brought before the courts. The committee declined to answer a question about whether genocide was taking place in Gaza. Pillay currently serves as a judge at the International Court of Justice in proceedings concerning allegations of genocide against Myanmar. She previously chaired the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which published a report in September 2025 concluding that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. The 72-page report said there were reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five acts constituting genocide under international law had been committed since the outbreak of the Gaza war: killing members of a protected group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately imposing conditions of life intended to bring about the group's destruction, and imposing measures intended to prevent births. Israel's Foreign Ministry also strongly condemned the decision to award Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize. "If there were a prize for lies, hatred and blood libels, Navi Pillay would not merely be a nominee. She would be the frontrunner," the ministry said. It accused Pillay of engaging in the politically motivated demonization of Israel and promoting what it called the false genocide narrative. "Awarding Pillay the Nobel Peace Prize is not a recognition of justice. It is a grotesque weaponization of the prize to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice," the ministry said. The statement concluded with an especially harsh comparison: "Now that the Nobel Committee has awarded a prize to the biggest lie of the 21st century, Joseph Goebbels is surely applauding from hell."