Norway pension fund divests from 16 firms over ties to Israel settlements

Norway’s largest pension fund today announced it has divested assets in 16 companies for their links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, news agencies reported.

“In KLP’s assessment, there is an unacceptable risk that the excluded companies are contributing to the abuse of human rights in situations of war and conflict through their links with the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank,” KLP, which manages some $95 billion worth of assets, said in a statement.

According to Al Jazeera, the statement also said: “Motorola and other companies risk complicity in international law violations in occupied Palestine.”

KLP added in its statement: “Divesting from Motorola Solutions was a very straightforward decision over its surveillance role in the occupied territories,” pointing out that the company provides software used in border surveillance.

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KLP also divested from telecom operators offering services within the West Bank as they contributed to making “the settlements attractive residential areas,” noting that these included Altice Europe, Bezeq, Cellcom Israel, and Partner Communications.

It also noted that five banks that facilitated or financed the construction of housing and infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian territories were included, as well as engineering and construction groups, including the French multinational Alstom.

The statement said that all these companies help facilitate Israel’s presence and therefore risk being complicit in breaches of international law, and against KLP’s ethical guidelines, Al Jazeera reported.

According to Al Jazeera, the divestment follows the February 2020 UN publication of a list of 112 companies with activities linked to Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law.