Overview
- On June 4, Norway’s parliament voted down a Socialist Left Party motion that would have forced its $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund to exit all firms with operations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
- Jens Stoltenberg told lawmakers the fund’s ethical framework mandates divestment only from companies deemed complicit in breaches of international law rather than imposing a blanket ban.
- UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese warned in a May 20 letter that investments in Israeli corporations underpin infrastructure sustaining the occupation’s economic and security apparatus.
- Norges Bank’s independent ethics council has over the past year recommended selling stakes in Israeli petrol chain Paz and telecoms firm Bezeq and is reviewing further links to occupation activities.
- Pro-Palestinian campaigners demonstrated outside the Storting and Socialist Left lawmaker Ingrid Fiskaa argued that withdrawing fund capital would make it harder for Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian homes.