Above photo: X.
The Israeli economy continues to take hits weeks after major credit companies downgraded Tel Aviv’s rating.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has sold all its shares in Israeli telecom giant Bezeq, citing the company’s presence in illegal West Bank settlements.
“The company (Bezeq), 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,” the Norwegian’s funds ethics council stated in its recommendation for the divestment.
“By doing so, the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law,” the report adds.
The decision came after the ethics council “adopted a tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that support Israel’s actions in occupied Palestinian territories,” according to western media reports.
The Norwegian fund, worth $1.8 trillion, is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. It owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares in 8,700 companies.
At the end of June, the Norwegian fund owned 0.76 percent of Bezeq’s shares, valued at $22.8 million, down from a holding of 2.2 percent in January. Its ethics council has reviewed other companies’ activities in the occupied West Bank since October 2023.
In May, Norway formally recognized Palestine as an independent state.
“For more than 30 years, Norway has been one of the strongest advocates for a Palestinian state. Today, when Norway officially recognizes Palestine as a state, it is a milestone in the relationship between Norway and Palestine,” officials in Oslo said.
In response, Israeli authorities revoked the diplomatic permits of eight Norwegian diplomats formerly based in Tel Aviv.
The move from Oslo comes as Israeli authorities are increasingly calling for the de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank and northern Gaza.
“I have directed the start of professional work to prepare the necessary infrastructure to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” Israeli Finance Minister and illegal West Bank settler Bezalel Smotrich said last month in response to the electoral victory of Donald Trump in the US.
“We don’t need to be scared of this word [occupation],” Smotrich said last week at a meeting of the Yesha Council, a committee overseeing several settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In his speech, he also advocated for establishing illegal settlements in north Gaza, where the Israeli army is completing a bloody ethnic cleansing campaign. “It’s possible to create a situation in which Gaza will have less than half its current population within two years,” Smotrich said, adding that the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza could also serve as a “model” for the West Bank.