As Norway wealth fund reviews ties with Israel, experts push for more divestment

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in an advisory opinion in July that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful and must end as soon as possible and that third countries must do nothing to aid or assist that occupation.

Norway's $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest shares of companies that have provided Israel with weapons and other military equipment used in its attacks on Gaza after its ethics council sent a letter on Aug. 30 to the Finance Ministry explaining the recently expanded definition of unethical corporate behavior.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) is responsible for managing the Government Pension Fund of Norway, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, which holds shares in more than 8,700 companies worldwide. As of the end of June, it owned stock in 77 Israeli companies valued at about $1.5 billion and corresponding to 0.1% of its total investments, according to recent reports.

Based on the recommendation of the Council on Ethics, nine companies have already been excluded from the fund because of activities related to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The first exclusion was back in 2009, "so this is by no means a new topic for the Council or for the fund," the Council’s Chair, Svein Richard Brandtzaeg, said in an interview with Anadolu.

"This is a constant and ongoing effort by the Council. As stated in the letter, we have already recommended the exclusion of one company in addition to the nine that are currently excluded. There may also be some additional recommendations arising from this issue in the time ahead.

"We are considering companies’ possible involvement in the occupation of the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territory) and in the settlements. We are also looking into companies’ sales of weapons used in Gaza," Brandtzaeg added.

Gerald Folkvord, political adviser at Amnesty International Norway, spoke to Anadolu about the role of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund "in financing crimes under international law in the Palestinian territory," both regarding arms "fueling the Gaza war and Israel’s unlawful economic exploitation of the occupied West Bank."

"I’m not sure whether the recent statement by the petrol fund’s ethics council really means there will be substantial changes, but of course we hope so. They refer to the advisory judgement by the ICJ, which is promising," said Folkvord.

However, he noted that even before the judgements, the fund was aware that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank were unlawful.

"Still the fund has been investing in many companies contributing to them," he said.

Folkvord hopes that the horrendous death toll in Gaza and in the West Bank will get both "the petrol fund and the Norwegian government to rethink."

Since Israel launched its brutal war on Oct. 7 last year, nearly 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, while over 95,000 others are injured, according to Gaza’s local health authorities.

Folkvord highlighted the fund's significant influence as the largest public investment fund globally, which could pressure other investors to avoid companies involved in international law violations.

He stressed the need for governments and companies to take responsibility for their roles in these violations and called for the immediate cessation of military equipment exports to Israel.

"It is very clear that if Norway invests money in a company that contributes to war crimes, Norway is also part of that problem, and that cannot be acceptable," he said.

According to Folkvord, the fund is invested in several companies that are blacklisted by the United Nations because they directly or indirectly contribute to violations of the law in the West Bank.

"If the United States and Germany and other countries say we just keep on providing equipment to Israel, and if the Norwegian oil fund says we keep on financing the companies whose equipment is being used, then there is no incentive for the Israeli authorities to stop their serious crimes they are committing every day," he warned.

- Israeli occupation will crumble

Martin Butcher, Oxfam’s policy advisor on arms, conflict and international humanitarian law, in an interview with Anadolu emphasized the importance of the Arms Trade Treaty in preventing arms sales to countries committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In his opinion, the more wealth funds and private investors withdraw money from arms companies or any other kind of company, the less easy they will find it to conduct their operations.

"So with the situation of the occupation, if companies can no longer get investment, then the occupation will crumble," Butcher added.

Israel cannot maintain the occupation "without investment from countries like Norway, without businesses from the United States or from the UK," he pointed out.

He listed several companies potentially affected by the divestments, including General Electric, British Aerospace and Hewlett Packard.

Apart from companies that sell weapons to Tel Aviv, there are many other businesses that are involved "in the Israeli apartheid wall," including tech companies like Hewlett Packard, which assists Israel in maintaining the data systems that are essential for keeping border controls and the occupation running.

According to Butcher, these companies would find it difficult to sell shares, to raise loans, and they could increasingly find it impossible to do business with Israel because of the ruling of the Council of Ethics.

- Western hypocrisy

The International Court of Justice has ruled that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and war crimes and crimes against humanity are also being committed, yet Israel continues to receive arms imports from around the world, primarily from the United States, but also from countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Butcher criticized the hypocrisy of Western states in upholding international humanitarian law while arming Israel.

"We’re seeing absolute hypocrisy from many states when it comes to their declarations about international law, and particularly international humanitarian law, the laws of war.

"We have seen a huge outcry from Western states about Russian actions in Ukraine and the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the killing of civilians. Yeah, there that outcry is absolutely justified.

"But at the same time, Western states continue to arm Israel, to give financial assistance to Israel, to protect Israel at the United Nations, and to refuse to do anything to uphold international humanitarian law in Gaza," he pointed out.

Currently, several court cases are being held as non-governmental organizations are taking governments to court to get them to act on their legal obligations. For instance, the Dutch courts ruled months ago that the Netherlands could not send parts and components to Israel for F-35 fighter aircraft, while the UK is in the middle of a court case and has just been forced to act to restrict supplies of arms to Israel.

"So we're seeing incredibly, increasingly, citizens taking action against their governments to get them to obey international law, and it's really shameful that we have to do that," said Butcher.