On Tuesday night, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund announced that it had completely divested from the Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq for providing services to communities in Judea and Samaria.
The Government Pension Fund of Norway is also considering selling its shares in Israeli companies active in the disputed territories and assisting in Jerusalem’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
This decision comes after the fund’s Council on Ethics adopted a stricter policy regarding companies active in Judea and Samaria.
“The company, through its physical presence and provision of telecom services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, is helping to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of these settlements, which are illegal under international law,” the council said in its recommendation to divest.
“By doing so the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law,” it added.
Jerusalem rejects claims that communities in Judea and Samaria violate international law, considering the area “disputed territory” pending a final-status agreement.
Oslo’s wealth fund manages $1.7 trillion in global assets. Bezeq is Israel’s largest telecoms group.
This decision reflects growing international pressure on Israel over its Judea and Samaria policies, with both the United States and the European Union implementing sanctions against individuals and organizations connected to the disputed territories.
The Scandinavian country has been a fierce critic of Israel during its over year-long war against Iran and its regional terror proxies sparked by the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023.
In October, Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide put out a statement accusing Jerusalem of “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks” in the Strip, and of preventing Gazans from receiving humanitarian aid, charges which Jerusalem vehemently denies.
In the summer, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz informed Oslo that he was canceling the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian representatives operating out of the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv whose sole role was to represent the Scandinavian nation to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
The ministry’s move was in retaliation for anti-Israel actions by Norway since the Oct. 7 massacre.
“There is a price for anti-Israel behavior,” said Katz, in a statement released by the Foreign Ministry.
“Instead of fighting Palestinian terrorism after October 7 and supporting Israel fighting against Iran’s evil axis, Norway chose to award the rapists and murderers of Hamas in the form of recognition of a Palestinian state,” he said.
Katz also cited Norway’s stand against Israel with the International Criminal Court, “one-sided” anti-Israel statements by Norwegian officials, and Norway’s independent moves regarding the P.A.
The ministry said the decision would be “particularly painful” for Oslo, which has assumed a leading role in the Palestinian issue.
Israel also canceled an agreement that it had struck with Norway in January to hold P.A. taxes and customs duties for safekeeping, part of a deal to freeze P.A. funds destined for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.