In June 2024, Norway's sovereign wealth fund (officially called the Government Pension Fund Global) announced it would exclude two Israeli companies from its portfolio due to ethical concerns related to their operations in occupied Palestinian territories. Elbit Systems (Israel's largest defense contractor) was excluded due to its production of weapons and surveillance systems used in the West Bank. Shapir Engineering and Industry was excluded for involvement in building settlements in occupied territories, which violates international law.
The fund also ended its contract with Israel’s Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services as one of its external asset managers. This decision was reportedly due to performance-related reasons, not ethical concerns.
Norway’s wealth fund follows strict ethical investment rules, excluding companies involved in weapons production, human rights violations, or environmental harm.
The exclusions came amid heightened scrutiny of companies operating in Israeli settlements, which the UN and many governments consider illegal under international law. The fund has previously excluded other companies, including Caterpillar (2024) for supplying equipment used in Palestinian home demolitions.
Now, the sovereign wealth fund has taken a decisive stand against Israel’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank by terminating all contracts with external asset managers handling Israeli investments. From now on, all Israeli holdings will be managed internally, under tighter ethical oversight.
The move follows an urgent review by the fund’s Council on Ethics in response to the escalating humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s military assault and illegal occupation. The review identified systemic violations of human rights, including collective punishment, targeting of civilian infrastructure, and the entrenchment of settlements in occupied territory — actions that breach international law and basic morality.
The fund's CEO, Nicolai Tangen, stated that the move was a response to "extraordinary circumstances" and the "serious humanitarian crisis" in Gaza.
In addition to bringing all Israeli investments in-house, the fund has sold its shares in 11 Israeli companies — roughly a fifth of its holdings in the country — many of which were directly or indirectly implicated in supplying weapons, technology, or infrastructure to the occupation.
This is not just a technical portfolio adjustment; it is an unambiguous repudiation of a state engaged in sustained, industrial-scale oppression. Israel’s decades-long defiance of UN resolutions, its indiscriminate bombing of civilians, and its blockade-induced strangulation of Gaza have made it a pariah in the eyes of much of the world. Norway’s action sends a clear signal: financial complicity in war crimes is unacceptable.
The decision adds weight to growing global demands for accountability and justice, and it places renewed pressure on governments, corporations, and investors worldwide to end their collaboration with Israel’s machinery of occupation and dispossession.
The beginning of the end
Norway's 'superannuation' fund divests further in Israeli companies
Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, has announced that it is terminating all contracts with external asset managers handling its Israeli investments.