America's largest Muslim civil rights organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has strongly condemned what it called the Nobel Prize committee’s “unconscionable decision” to award this year's peace prize to Venezuelan Opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Machado, CAIR said in a statement, “is a vocal supporter of Israel's racist Likud Party and earlier this year she delivered remarks at a conference of European fascists, including Geert Wilders and Marie Le Pen, which openly called for a new Reconquista, referencing the ethnic cleansing of Spanish Muslims and Jews in the 1500s.”

The Nobel Peace Prize, CAIR said, “should go to individuals who have shown moral consistency by bravely advocating justice for all people, not to politicians who demand democracy in their own nation while supporting racism, bigotry and fascism abroad.

“We call on Ms. Machado to renounce her support for the Likud Party and anti-Muslim fascism in Europe,” CAIR said.

“If she refuses to do so, the Nobel Prize committee should reconsider its decision, which has undermined its own reputation. An anti-Muslim bigot and supporter of European fascism would have no place being mentioned alongside the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other worthy winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The Nobel Peace Prize committee should instead recognize an honoree who has shown moral consistency by bravely pursuing justice for all people, such as one of the students, journalists, activists, medical professionals who have risked their careers and even their lives to oppose the crime of our time: the genocide in Gaza,” it added.

After her name was announced as the winner of this year’s peace prize, Machado had dedicated her Nobel win to, among others, US President Donald Trump – the man who had made no bones about his desire to win the coveted prize.

“This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom,” Machado had written on her X (formerly Twitter) handle.

“We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic nations of the world as our principal allies to achieve Freedom and democracy,” she wrote.

“I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”