Norway wealth fund divests from largest Israeli fuels company over atrocities in West Bank
Norway’s gigantic sovereign wealth fund has sold all of its shares in the largest Israeli fuels company Paz Retail and Energy because it owns and operates infrastructure for the supply of gasoline and other petroleum products to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The divestment, which was announced on Sunday, marks the second instance following the adoption of a stricter interpretation of ethical standards by the fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, in August for businesses supporting Israel’s activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The first divestment was from the Israeli telecommunications company Bezeq last December.
The fund, which owns 1.5% of listed shares across 9,000 companies globally, operates under guidelines set by Norway’s parliament and is seen as a leader in the environmental, social and governance field.
It is the latest decision by a European financial entity to cut back links to Israeli companies or those with ties to the Tel Aviv regime since the outbreak of the genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023.
Paz Retail and Energy Ltd, formerly known as Paz Oil Company Ltd (Paz), is an Israeli energy company, engaged in the refining, production, storage, importing and marketing of oil and refined products. It has nine stations in the occupied West Bank.
“By operating infrastructure for the supply of fuel to the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Paz is contributing to their perpetuation,” the Council on Ethics said in its recommendation to divest.
“The settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their perpetuation constitutes an ongoing violation thereof.”
The watchdog makes recommendations to the board of the Norwegian central bank, which has the final say on divestments.
The fund has now sold all its stock in the company.
It was not immediately clear if more divestments would happen.
In March, the fund’s oversight body announced that it had cleared the majority of the companies it assessed regarding their operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, following a new review initiated after the onset of the Gaza conflict.
The regulatory authority stated that it had issued two divestment recommendations – one for Bezeq in December and another for Paz – but did not disclose if additional recommendations had been made.
Overall, the watchdog evaluated approximately 65 firms within the fund’s portfolio, which operate in various sectors such as energy supply, infrastructure development, travel and tourism, and banking, among others.
Israel has ramped up violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and killed at least 962 Palestinians and inured more than 7,000 others since it launched a genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, .
The International Court of Justice declared in July 2024 that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land is illegal and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation al-Aqsa Flood against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 52,829 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 119,554 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
