Trump lashes out as praise pours in for Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay, with Israel criticising the selection
From the Newshound archive · first published 10 October 2026.
South African jurist Navi Pillay, 85, has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her "efforts to promote peace and international law," beating Trump, who had warned it would be a "great discredit" to the committee if the prize went to someone other than him. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led international tributes, calling her contributions to human dignity "an understatement of the well-deserved," while Israel and its supporters voiced sharp disappointment over the selection.
Pillay serves as an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice and previously helped defend Nelson Mandela against apartheid.
Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said a "common thread" connects her defence of Mandela to her involvement in landmark international court cases of the present era.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk called the award "particularly poignant" given that human rights are "under attack from those who wield enormous power."