Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has sold all its shares in Israel’s Bezeq as it provides telecom services to the settlements in the West Bank, it said late on Tuesday.
The decision to divest comes after the Norwegian fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, adopted a new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in the Palestinian territories.
The $1.8 trillion fund has been an international leader in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment field. It owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares across 8,700 companies, and its size carries influence.
It is the latest decision by a European financial entity to cut back links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, as pressure mounts from foreign governments to end the war in Gaza.
Bezeq is Israel’s largest telecom group. It did not reply immediately to a request for comment.
“The company, through its physical presence and provision of telecom services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, is helping to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of these settlements, which are illegal under international law,” the fund’s watchdog said in its recommendation to divest.
Illustrative: A view of the West Bank settlement of Eli, on October 30, 2024. (Sharon Aronowicz / AFP)
“By doing so the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law,” it added.
The watchdog said it noted that the company had said it was also providing telecom services to Palestinian areas in the West Bank, but that did not outweigh the fact that it was also providing services to Israeli settlements.
The watchdog makes recommendations to the board of the Central Bank of Norway, which has the final say on divestments.
The advice on Bezeq was the first recommendation to divest since the watchdog toughened its policy in August. More decisions are expected.
Sharpened policy
The fund has now sold all its stock in the company.
Before that, it had cut its stake during the first half of 2024, owning 0.76% of the company’s shares valued at $23.7 million at the end of June, down from a holding of 2.2% at the start of the year, fund data showed.
The watchdog’s new definition of ethical breaches was partly based on the International Court of Justice finding in July that “the occupation itself, Israel’s settlement policy and the way Israel uses the natural resources in the areas are in conflict with international law,” according to an August 30 letter it addressed to the Finance Ministry.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the council has been investigating whether more companies fall outside its permitted investment guidelines.
Before the announcement to divest, the fund had divested from nine companies operating in the West Bank.
Their operations include building roads and homes in Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and in West Bank settlements, and providing surveillance systems for a security fence built between Israel and the West Bank.
File: A man walks outside the municipality building in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 24, 2024, adorned with flags of Spain, Ireland and Norway.(AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
In October, Norway’s Storebrand Asset Management, which manages 1.2 trillion crowns ($109 billion) in assets, divested from Palantir Technologies, citing concern that the AI data firm’s involvement in providing services to the Israeli military and security forces would violate international humanitarian law and human rights.
Norway is the latest in a series of European countries to reevaluate its trade relations with Israel since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last October 7, when thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Throughout the ongoing war, Norway has been critical of Israel’s conduct. In late May, Norway, along with Spain and Ireland, formally recognized a Palestinian state.
In October, Norway raised its terrorism threat level amid fears over an increased risk of attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets due to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. The heightened alert level came after police in neighboring Denmark charged two men suspected of detonating hand grenades near Israel’s Copenhagen embassy.
