Of the umpteen controversies that Nobel Prizes have countered since first being awarded in 1901, the irony of the Peace Prize has been the biggest. With the most recent being US President Donald Trump’s nomination by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The announcement opened the floodgates of memes on social media — the one driven passionately by disbelief, shock and sarcasm.
“Wait, let me get this straight, the Israeli Prime Minister, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for War Crimes in Gaza, has nominated his largest weapons supplier as a candidate for the most prestigious honour ever in peacemaking,” read one of the many viral memes announcing the development.
A few political influencers joked, how “it’s equivalent to nominating organ traffickers for the Nobel Prize in Physiology.” But The Nobel Prize for Peace is no stranger to controversy or criticism, with even German dictator Adolf Hitler’s name once being in the list of nominees.
Distinguished honour, contentious names
The honour has some formidable names on the list, from activists who advocated for human rights to visionaries who stood against war. In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his role in the Civil Rights movement and relentless commitment to achieving racial justice through nonviolent action. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize three times for its contribution to humanity. But for every honourable name on the list of Nobel Laureates, a large fraction of them are contentious ones. With one of the most recent controversial laureates being former US president Barack Obama who received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize before completing even one year as the US president. He later increased US troop levels in Afghanistan and accelerated the use of drone strikes, making many question his selection.
A very similar template unfolded with another Nobel laureate Abiy Ahmed, the PM of Ethiopia. Ahmed was awarded the prize in 2019 for his contribution in “ending his country’s long-running war with neighbouring Eritrea and his initiative to resolve the border conflict.”
Later, Abiy infamously led a brutal war in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region and was accused of several war crimes. In 1994, things escalated beyond mere objections and criticism when Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, was given the prize for his efforts to create peace in the Middle East. One member of the committee resigned, denouncing Arafat as a “terrorist.”
Unni Turrettini, who’s authored the book ‘Betraying the Nobel: The Secrets and Corruption Behind the Nobel Peace Prize,’ has often highlighted how the nominations are getting politically motivated and the prize losing credibility. The prize committee being populated with politicians has further contributed to the erosion of credibility, with many alleging that selection sometimes aims to further the interests of the Norwegian government and its foreign policy diplomacy.
Why was Mahatma Gandhi never awarded the Nobel Prize?
Between 1901 and 2024, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 105 times to 142 Nobel Laureates. Out of this, the prize has been awarded to 111 individuals and 31 organisations. While most of the controversies have surrounded names that made it to the list of nominations or awards, in Mahatma Gandhi’s case the reverse has been true. The iconic symbol of peace and non-violence in the 20th century, ironically was never awarded the prize despite being nominated as many as five times.
Also read: Netanyahu nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize
Many theories and reasons exist for the omission of Gandhi from the list of Nobel laureates, but the one most widely tendered includes that he was not a politician, not primarily a humanitarian relief worker or proponent of international law. His omission has been publicly regretted by several Nobel Committee members separately, including when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Peace Prize in 1989. The committee stated that it was, “in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi.” But that does not nearly wipe the question mark off the face of the Nobel Committee or its selection process.
Nobel Peace Prize 2025
According to the Statues of the Nobel Foundation, a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize is considered valid if submitted by those meeting certain criteria. Members of national assemblies, governments and The International Court of Justice in The Hague are some of the people among others who are qualified to nominate. There are 338 candidates nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, of which 244 are individuals and 94 are organisations. The 2025, Nobel peace laureates will be announced on October 10, 2025 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway.
Do the critics of the Peace Prize have a point?
Notably, the Nobel Committee does not confirm the names of nominees to anyone whatsoever, with the list of nominees being released 50 years after the prize is awarded. The names of candidates appearing in the media are either a result of sheer speculation or because the candidates themselves chose to disclose their names. Since the past decade, the critics’ voices have grown louder with many of them arguing that the award has drifted from its sole purpose and is now being used as a tool to appease political figures or to bait them. Before Netanyahu turned up for dinner at the White House on July 7, the whispers of ceasefire grew louder, with Trump reportedly eager to make the ceasefire announcement himself. That is till Netanyahu presented the US President with a copy of his nomination letter endorsing Trump for the Peace Prize and ironically putting the ceasefire deal on the back burner. The critics once again pulled out the criteria and standard articulated by founder Alfred Nobel that the prize should go to, “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Whether Trump ticks off the vital boxes of Nobel Peace Prize criteria, depends on who is being asked that question. But it once again steers the conversation back to the irony of the peace prize.
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