"Norway wealth fund divests from Israel's Bezeq over services to West Bank settlements", 4 December 2024

Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has sold all its shares in Israel's Bezeq as it provides telecoms services to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The decision...comes after the fund's ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, adopted a new, tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories...

It is the latest decision by a European financial entity to cut back links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the country, as pressure mounts from foreign governments to end the war in Gaza.

Bezeq, Israel's largest telecoms group, declined to comment.

"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 sovereign wealth fund's watchdog said in its recommendation to divest.

"By doing so the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law."

The watchdog said it noted that the company had said it was providing telecoms services to Palestinian areas in the West Bank, but that did not outweigh the fact that it was also providing services to Israeli settlements.

The watchdog makes recommendations to the board of the Norwegian central bank, which has the final say on divestments...

'NO SPECIAL RIGHTS'

The Council on Ethics said...

"The settlements are constantly being expanded, Palestinians are constantly being driven from their homes and land areas are de facto being annexed," it told Reuters, citing its recommendation. "Qualified discrimination and violent abuse of the Palestinian population in Area C is also taking place."

The fund watchdog's new definition of ethical breaches is partly based on an International Court of Justice finding in July that "the occupation itself, Israel's settlement policy and the way Israel uses the natural resources in the areas are in conflict with international law", according to a Aug. 30 letter it addressed to the finance ministry...