MELBOURNE, April 29 (Reuters) – The White House has hit back at critics of Donald Trump being awarded the FIFA Peace Prize, saying there is none more deserving than the U.S. president.
Global soccer governing body FIFA gave Trump the inaugural award at the World Cup draw in December for “promoting peace and unity around the world”, triggering condemnation from human rights groups and activists in the lead-up to the World Cup.
Australian soccer player Jackson Irvine said this week that giving the award to Trump made a mockery of FIFA’s Human Rights Policy, while Norway’s soccer federation said FIFA should abolish the award.
The White House responded by saying Trump’s “Peace through Strength foreign policy” had ended eight wars in less than a year.
“There is no one else in the world more deserving of FIFA’s first ever Peace Prize than President Trump. Anyone who thinks otherwise clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement.
The U.S., which is co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, launched a military strike on Venezuela a month after the draw for the tournament was made and began joint airstrikes with Israel on Iran on February 28.
Trump frequently invokes his success at resolving international conflicts and has said on numerous occasions that he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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