Norway’s Storebrand divests from Palantir over use of its software by Israeli forces
Norwegian asset management firm pulls its investment from US provider of AI data platform deployed by Israeli authorities for surveillance and security in West Bank and Gaza
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
Norwegian investor Storebrand Asset Management has divested its holding in 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.
In an update last week, Storebrand, which manages 1.2 trillion crowns ($109 billion) in assets, said that it had divested its investment in Palantir “due [to] its sales of products and services to Israel for use in occupied Palestinian territories.” The asset manager had previously held about 262 million crowns ($24 million) in Palantir, a spokesperson told Reuters.
The US data-analysis giant develops software using artificial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of facts and figures, which is deployed by government civil administration, military and intelligence agencies. The AI data software platforms are used by intelligence agencies to assist in profiling information to identify targets such as terrorists as well as in operational decision-making for battle plans.
Its AI tools assist investigators in uncovering human trafficking rings, finding exploited children, and in the business realm in flagging complex financial crimes and insider trading.
The Denver-based data-mining firm with a market value of $100 billion has been active in Israel for the past decade and has an office in Tel Aviv run by many former Israeli government officials. In January, Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp hosted the firm’s first board meeting of the year in Tel Aviv to show solidarity with Israel during the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza.
Storebrand said its decision to end its investment in Palantir comes after the Norwegian government warned Norwegian businesses in an official statement in early March that “engaging in any economic or financial activity in the illegal Israeli settlements could put them at risk of contributing to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights.”
The Norwegian investor also referred to an advisory opinion by the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in July, which asserted that Israel’s presence in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza (despite the military’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005) is illegal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and numerous cabinet ministers, as well as settler leaders, roundly denounced the non-binding ruling.
Storebrand disclosed that according to its analysis, Palantir provides “AI-based predictive policing systems, to Israeli military and security forces to support the surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza of the occupied Palestinian territories.”
“This system is supposed to identify individuals who are likely to launch ‘lone wolf terrorist’ attacks, facilitating their arrests pre-emptively before the strikes that it is projected they would carry out,” Storebrand claimed.
The Norwegian investor said that Palantir had not replied to any of its repeated requests for information since first being contacted in April.
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.
Earlier this month, 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.
