The Sovereign Fund of Norway, the most important in the world, has excluded an Israeli group that provides fuel to illegal colonies in the occupied Palestinian territories, announced the Bank of Norway. The fund, which manages approximately 1,620 billion euros in assets, has sold its participations in the Israeli Group Paz Retail and Energy, the Central Bank that manages the fund on Sunday night.
Paz has and operates service stations in nine Jewish colonies in the West Bank, providing them with fuel, according to the Bank’s Ethics Council, an advisory body that provides investment councils to the fund. Several of these colonies have been built “in depth within the occupied Palestinian territory and are linked to Israel on specific access roads,” said the Council.
“Violation of International Law”
By exploiting this infrastructure, peace “contributes to its perpetuation”, which leads to “an unacceptable risk that the company contributes to serious violations of the rights of people in times of war or conflict,” he adds. These colonies have been established in violation of international law and “the Council considers that Peace contributes to the violation of international law,” the opinion continues.
At the end of December 2024, the Norwegian fund had 0.49% of the company’s shares, which then earned 72.8 million crowns (6.28 million euros). The Central Bank of Norway only announces its disinvestment decisions after the sale of its participations.
The fund, which invests the income from oil and gas from the Norwegian state, is the largest unique investor in the world. It has participations in almost 8,800 companies in 71 countries, which represents 1.5% of the capitalization of the global market.
Source: BFM TV
