Trump calls Nobel committee 'enemies of civilisation' and warns Norway 'we will not forget' after peace prize snub

From the Newshound archive · first published 10 October 2026 · last updated 11 October 2026.

Trump erupted over the Nobel committee's decision to award the 2026 peace prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay, branding the panel "a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilisation." In a Truth Social post and at a Syracuse rally, he insisted the prize had been "forever discredited" and declared the decision "an indelible stain on the country of Norway." He listed claimed diplomatic achievements including settling eight wars and securing the release of Israeli hostages, demanding to know why neither he nor the United States had been recognised.

Pillay, 85, an ICC judge who helped craft a UN report finding Israel committed genocide in Gaza, joked from Nuremberg: 'If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump.'

Trump dismissed Pillay as a "mystery person" and "liberal person who works at the United Nations" who "nobody has ever heard of."

Trump has now been passed over for the prize every year of his presidency — last year's winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, dedicated her award to him instead.