Norway’s Largest Pension Fund Divests From Companies Operating in West Bank

The largest pension fund in Norway, KLP, has divested from 16 companies for doing business in Israeli West Bank settlements, selling off nearly $32 million in shares of the companies. The companies include Motorola and Altice Europe, three telecom and communications companies, five Israeli banks and two energy companies. Because these companies are involved in building housing and infrastructure, facilitating communication and making the area more attractive for Jewish settlers to live there and in protecting the settlements, KLP says they violate the company’s ethical guidelines as well as international law. The companies all appear on the blacklist of companies that have links to West Bank settlements made public last year by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. “KLP has contacted all the affected companies to establish a dialogue, and has followed up the dialogue due to a lack of response,” the company said in a statement on its website. In May, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund divested from two companies involved in construction and real estate in the West Bank.