President Trump joked Monday that the Norwegian representative to the Gaza peace conference was hiding after the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee snubbed him Friday by giving its prestigious peace prize to a Venezuelan opposition leader.
“We have Norway. Oh, Norway, aye aye aye! Norway, what happened? Norway, what happened?” Trump said during a celebratory speech on the peace agreement he helped broker between Hamas and Israel.
“Where’s Norway? I don’t think he wants to stand. Oh, he’s back there.”
It was not immediately clear who was representing the Nordic kingdom at the peace deal ceremony in Egypt.
Trump, 79, was snubbed three days prior despite a campaign by his US and foreign supporters to win him the honor, which controversially was given to former President Barack Obama during his first year in office.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee is chosen by the country’s parliament and decided to honor Maria Machado, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly who was barred last year from running for president against authoritarian socialist incumbent Nicolas Maduro.
Nominations for the Peace Prize technically were due Jan. 31, the same month Trump reclaimed power and before he brokered a growing list of international accords. Some of his advisers believe he stands a better shot next year.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, asked by Trump to address the Egyptian gathering, announced that he’s re-nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in ending four days of fighting in May with neighboring India.
The governments of Israel and Cambodia also nominated Trump for the prize this year, citing his role ending their fighting with Iran and Thailand, respectively.
Stay up to date on the Israel-Hamas cease-fire exchange
The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, who in August jointly called for Trump to receive the honor for helping end their decades-old conflict, both attended the Gaza ceremony, with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan approaching Trump afterward to thank him.
“Today is one of the greatest days in contemporary history,” Sharif said Monday of the Gaza peace deal.
“Pakistan had nominated President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding extraordinary contributions to first stop war between India and Pakistan and then achieve ceasefire, along with his very wonderful team,” Sharif said.
“And today, again, I would like to nominate this great president for the Nobel Peace Prize, because I genuinely feel that he is the most genuine and most wonderful candidate for the Peace Prize, because he has brought not only peace in South Asia, saved millions of people their lives, and today, here in Sharm el-Sheikh, achieving peace in Gaza is saving millions of lives in the Middle East.”
Sharif added: “I think that you are the man this world needed most at this point in time.”
