Norway wealth fund divests from Bezeq for providing services to West Bank settlements

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has divested from Israel’s Bezeq because it provides telecoms services to the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, it says.

The decision comes after the fund’s ethics watchdog adopted a new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel’s operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Bezeq is Israel’s largest telecoms group.

“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 Council on Ethics says in its recommendation to divest.

“By doing so the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law,” it adds.

The watchdog says it noted that the company had said it was also providing telecoms 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 Norwegian central bank, which has the final say on divestments.

The fund has now sold all its stock in the company.