Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay roasts Trump after winning prize: ‘If you clap more, I might share it with him’

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Former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay lashed out at Donald Trump after he won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, joking that she would offer to share it.

The South African judge and legal expert received the prize for having “played an instrumental role in the prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide”, according to Nobel committee chairman Jørgen Watne Frydnes.

He said this came at a time when “the system of international law is under enormous pressure and its institutions are under attack.”

President Trump has long coveted this award and has made no secret of his aspiration to win it. He has already lobbied the committee to award him this prestigious honor.

“I’ve done things that no one else has ever done. I’m not bragging, I’m just telling you the facts,” the president told reporters Wednesday. “No president has probably ever settled a war. I’ve settled eight.”

At the Nuremberg tribunal, where Pillay was attending an academic and legal conference, she addressed attendees and made a joke at Mr Trump’s expense, in footage shared by Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard.

As she entered the applause room, she said, “If you clap a little more, maybe I’ll share this award with Trump.” »

The White House reacted with fury to President Trump’s snub last year and accused the committee of putting “politics before peace” when the prize went to Venezuelan Maria Corina Machado, a democracy and peace activist who challenged Venezuela’s autocratic government.

She then symbolically presented her award to Mr. Trump in “recognition of his unique commitment to our freedom.”

This year, the Nobel committee seemed aware of the pressure surrounding the announcement and said: “We see a shift toward power politics at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice. Whenever force trumps right, it undermines stability, trust and peaceful coexistence.”

“By awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to remind the world that the rule of law, domestic and international, underpins the system we have put in place to ensure peace and resolve conflicts non-violently. Peace requires justice.”

Mr Frydnes said: “It is a message that international law and its institutions are the cornerstone of a more peaceful world. So of course we hope that this prize will also strengthen the institutions, the individuals, not only Navi Pillay, but particularly her.”

Ms. Pillay’s work included defending Nelson Mandela and others who spoke out against apartheid. She also served as a judge and presided over landmark criminal cases for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

She also chaired the independent UN commission that concluded Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, a claim Israel denies.