Topline
Human rights lawyer Navi Pillay, who won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the displeasure of President Donald Trump, criticized the Trump administration on Monday for issuing sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court, calling its actions “negative and cruel.”
President Donald Trump was passed over for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and he reshared a post on Truth Social that said the organization “shamed itself beyond repair.” (Photo by Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Pillay said the Trump administration’s sanctions of the International Criminal Court—imposed Friday, hours after former ICC judge Pillay was announced as the Nobel Peace Prize winner—are “completely unlawful.”
Heads of state have a responsibility to “respect international law,” Pillay told the Associated Press in an interview Monday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday the United States would “ban transactions” with the ICC, “cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us.”
Trump raged about losing the Nobel Peace Prize over the weekend, dismissing Pillay, who previously chaired a United Nations commission that concluded Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, as a hater of Israel.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump, who has long campaigned for the award, said he should have won eight Nobel Peace Prizes, based on his dubious claim that he has ended eight wars while in office.
Pillay, who learned of her win Friday morning while attending an event at the Nuremberg Court in Germany, made a quip about Trump’s Nobel ambitions to her applauding colleagues: “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump,” prompting laughter.
How Did Trump Respond To Not Winning The Nobel Prize?
Trump complained about his loss in a series of lengthy Truth Social posts over the weekend. In a Friday night post, he attacked Pillay, saying “no one ever heard of her other than the fact that she, very obviously, hates Israel.” Trump claimed he ended eight wars and is “about to settle, or win, two more, Iran and, Russia/Ukraine.” Trump has made this claim repeatedly, but his claims are heavily exaggerated. “In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes, not just 1,” Trump said, also citing the United States’ capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the freeing of Israeli hostages. “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,” Trump said, calling it an “indelible stain on Norway, one that will never be forgotten.” Trump also cited the efforts of last year’s winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, to share her prize with Trump, though the Norwegian Nobel Committee has said prizes cannot be transferred once awarded. Trump reiterated his displeasure the following morning in another Truth Social post. He also reshared a Truth Social post that called Pillay an “unabashed hater of America and Israel” who conducted a “phony ‘investigation’ claiming to find that Israel committed genocide.”
Who Is Navi Pillay?
Pillay is a human rights lawyer and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, a role in which she served from 2008 to 2014. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Pillay’s victory Friday morning, saying she was chosen because she has been “instrumental in ensuring that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are prosecuted.” The committee cited her early work defending Nelson Mandela in South Africa to her present-day work as a judge for the International Court of Justice on a case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide. Pillay chaired a United Nations commission that concluded in a report published last year that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry swiftly condemned Pillay’s Nobel victory Friday morning, saying, “If there were an award for lies, hatred, and blood libels, Navi Pillay wouldn’t just be a contender. She’d be a frontrunner,” accusing the Nobel committee of a “grotesque weaponization of an award to legitimize anti-Israel hatred and prejudice.” Pillay, after winning the prize, dedicated the award to “all of the survivors of international crimes” and people defending international justice, “whose compassion and courage continue to ensure that impunity will not be allowed to reign.” She said political leaders “have a legal obligation to protect human rights and refrain from war.”
key background
Trump has campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize as recently as last week, telling reporters in the White House he deserves it because he “settled eight wars, and big ones,” a dubious claim he has made repeatedly. He suggested he “stopped maybe the total obliteration of the world because Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” and said if he is not awarded the prize, “I think it would be a great discredit to them.” After losing the prize last year, he sent a scathing text to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, saying, “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” adding, “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.” Norwegian press reported last year Trump had also called Norway’s finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, asking about the prize. Ahead of Friday morning’s announcement, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a post on X Pakistan had nominated Trump for the prize, saying he “helped bring Pakistan and India back from the brink and secure a ceasefire.”
further reading
Trump’s Nobel ambitions fade, but Norway still fears his wrath (Washington Post)
Has Trump Actually Solved 9 Wars As He Claims? No—Here’s What’s True (Forbes)
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