Nobel Peace Prize winner quips: 'Clap louder and I'll have to share this with Trump'

"If you clap a little more, I might have to share this prize with Trump."

Navi Pillay, 85, a South African ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice, delivered a pointed quip moments after being named the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Pillay was attending the Nuremberg Forum in Germany on Friday (local time) when she learned of the award. "I thought it must be a joke," she said with a laugh, adding that as a lawyer and judge, she wanted to verify the facts first.

The remark was widely read as a dig at President Donald Trump, who has long and publicly insisted he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in mediating Middle East conflicts and ending wars. As recently as this year, Trump claimed to have "resolved eight wars" and warned that failing to give him the prize would be a disgrace to the Nobel Committee.

Pillay spoke about her work as chair of the UN Human Rights Council's international commission of inquiry, which investigated human rights violations in Gaza and submitted a report documenting allegations of genocide by Israel. She said the report had drawn praise for its courage, but questioned why courage should be required at all. "I don't understand why it takes courage to face the facts and apply the law fairly," she said. "I'm 85, but I cannot stop working to end injustice."

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Pillay as the winner of the 125th Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Friday (local time), saying she had made "a decisive contribution to achieving judicial accountability for war crimes and genocide at a time when the norms of international law face severe threats."

Agnès Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said the selection could not be more timely. "At a moment when international judicial justice is under threat, she led the UN commission of inquiry that documented genocide crimes while many states were defending Israel's military actions," Callamard said.

Pillay has had a distinguished career in international human rights law, having once served as a defense lawyer for Nelson Mandela. She later became a judge on the South African High Court, president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. A total of 287 nominations were submitted for this year's prize. The award ceremony will be held in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.