Union presses Norway wealth fund to divest from firms that aid Israel in West Bank, Gaza
World’s largest sovereign wealth fund urged by Norwegian confederation of trade unions to pull investments from companies ‘that have activities in occupied Palestinian territories’
Norway’s $1.8 trillion wealth fund, the world’s largest, should divest from all companies that aid Israel in areas claimed by the Palestinian for a future state, a leader at Norway’s powerful LO trade union told Reuters, intensifying an ongoing divestment campaign.
LO, the biggest confederation of trade unions in Norway, is aligned with the governing Labour Party and often exerts influence on policy beyond traditional workers’ rights issues.
“We want the fund to pull out of the companies that have activities in the occupied Palestinian territories,” Steinar Krogstad, deputy leader at LO, said in an interview.
LO’s general policy is that Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, should not invest in companies that breach international law, Krogstad said.
“This question is more on the agenda now… because of Israel’s policy, attacks and war in Gaza and in the West Bank,” he said, speaking on the margins of the union’s congress, where the Palestinian flag flew alongside those of the United Nations and Norway.
The Israeli embassy in Oslo did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The United Nations General Assembly in September adopted a resolution calling for Israel to “end without delay its unlawful presence” in “Occupied Palestinian Territory” and entirely pull out of Palestinian areas within a year. The Israeli government rejected the resolution as “cynical international politics” that would encourage terrorism and harm the chances for peace.
Israel charged that the resolution ignores October 7 onslaught, when Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and during which terrorists abducted 251 people who were taken as hostages to Gaza.
Norway has been critical of Israel’s conduct throughout the military campaign aimed at toppling the Hamas regime in Gaza and freeing the hostages. In May last year, Norway, along with Spain and Ireland, formally recognized a Palestinian state.
LO and 47 other civil society organizations sent Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg a letter, dated April 10 and seen by Reuters, to push for such a move.
The letter asks Stoltenberg – an LO member – to instruct the central bank, which operates the fund, to divest from companies “where there is an unacceptable risk of complicity in violating international law in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
It also asks Stoltenberg take the initiative to give more precise guidelines for the observation and exclusion of companies from the oil fund “in such a way that they are in accordance with international law.”
Daily VG first reported on the letter.
Krogstad said LO would also request a meeting with Stoltenberg to discuss the issue. No date had yet been set, he said.
The finance ministry said the fund operates under ethical guidelines agreed on by parliament, with recommendations for divestments made by an ethical watchdog that is “professionally independent.”
“We have a framework that works well and has broad support in parliament,” Deputy Finance Minister Ellen Reitan told Reuters.
The fund has faced pressure to divest from companies active in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the start of the war in October 2023.
Since then, it has divested from Israeli telecom company Bezeq and another unnamed company is under consideration for exclusion by the central bank’s board.
Most other companies active in the West Bank territories have been cleared in a review by the fund’s ethical watchdog.
The fund held stocks worth 22 billion crowns ($2.12 billion) across 65 companies listed on the Tel Aviv stock Exchange as of the end of 2024, according to fund data. They represent 0.1% of the fund’s overall investments.
The Times of Israel Community.