The Nobel Prize committee continues to showcase just how much of a joke it has become, particularly when handing out prizes in the political sphere.
On Friday, the committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law. The South African jurist served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. But the committee’s decision glosses over a record that makes Pillay a questionable choice for a peace prize, to put it generously.
President Trump, who has openly sought the prize for his own efforts in the Middle East, blasted the choice on Friday. He reposted a Truth Social post that challenged Pillay’s credentials and laid out why her record undermines the committee’s case for honoring her.
BREAKING NEWS The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2026 #NobelPeacePrize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law. #NobelPrize https://t.co/97vurspw6z
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2026
"Today the Nobel Committee shamed itself beyond repair and demeaned the once great Nobel Peace Prize by giving it to the UN’s Navi Pillay," the reposted statement from the Alabama and Georgia-based Schoen Law Firm said. "Pillay is an unabashed hater of America and Israel. In her position she celebrated terrorists and rewarded Hamas. She conducted a phony 'investigation' claiming to find that Israel committed genocide and urging prosecution. She has no credibility in any normal sphere and has never done a thing to foster peace. Just the opposite. But what could be expected from a committee that previously gave the once coveted peace prize to Yasser Arafat?"
"President Trump gave us the Abraham Accords, which the world said would be impossible and is now expanding them! He brought home the hostages when all seemed hopeless! He is making best efforts to end the Russia/Ukraine war, to stop Iran, the number one sponsor of international terrorism, and he is trying to rebuild Gaza despite the terrorists’ best efforts to control it," the statement added. "The list goes on and on. These are the kinds of things the Nobel Peace Prize was intended to recognize and reward!!!"
Today former UN rights chief Navi Pillay was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize despite her alleged complicity with genocide and a record of turning a blind eye to abuses by China and other oppressive regimes. 🧵 See the evidence for yourself: https://t.co/GUuztuXd38
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 9, 2026
Pillay’s record is difficult to reconcile with an award for peace and human rights. According to UN Watch, the former U.N. human rights chief repeatedly handed Chinese representatives the names of dissidents without regard for their families’ safety. The group also accuses her of turning a blind eye during her tenure to human rights abuses in Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Belarus, Syria, and 27 other countries rated “Not Free” by Freedom House. And when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, UN Watch says Pillay skipped the ceremony at China’s urging.
In other words, she has spent her time criticizing the freest countries while giving actual human rights abusers a pass.
Several people have argued that President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, accusing the committee of withholding it out of personal disdain for the president rather than judging his achievements on their merits. However, it’s only fitting that an international body would award the prize to someone so typical of those who represent and work within international bodies.
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