Trump calls Pillay's Nobel Peace Prize an 'indelible stain' on Norway

U.S. President Donald Trump sharply criticized the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay. At a campaign rally in Syracuse, New York, on Friday night, he called the decision "disgraceful and embarrassing," Reuters reported. Of Pillay he said: "I never heard of the person. Nobody did." He called the decision "an indelible stain on the country of Norway" and said the prize had been "forever discredited." Trump added: "And we will not forget, Norway."

On social media, Trump also wrote that Pillay "very obviously" hates Israel. The 85-year-old is a former International Criminal Court judge and former U.N. human rights chief who most recently chaired a U.N. commission of inquiry that accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. Israel rejects the finding. Trump claimed to have ended or prevented several wars, without providing evidence, according to Reuters.

Pillay herself joked during a standing ovation at an event in Nuremberg after the announcement: "If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump." There was no immediate response from the Norwegian government, which has repeatedly stressed that the committee decides independently. The prize will be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10.