A leading figure in Norway’s largest trade union, LO, is urging the country’s $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund to divest from all companies that assist Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. This call intensifies an existing campaign advocating for divestment.
LO, a powerful confederation of trade unions aligned with the governing Labour Party, often influences policy beyond traditional labor issues.
“We want the fund to pull out of the companies that have activities in the occupied Palestinian territories,” said Steinar Krogstad, deputy leader at LO, in an interview with Reuters.
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Krogstad stated that LO’s general policy is that Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, should not invest in companies that violate international law.
“This question is more on the agenda now … because of Israel’s policy, attacks and war in Gaza and in the West Bank,” he said, speaking at the union’s congress, where the Palestinian flag was displayed alongside those of the United Nations and Norway.
The Israeli embassy in Oslo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a ruling rejected by Tel Aviv as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided, the UN’s highest court stated last year that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there were illegal and should be ended as soon as possible.
LO, along with 47 other civil society organizations, sent a letter dated April 10 to Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, an LO member, advocating for this divestment. The letter, seen by Reuters, requests Stoltenberg to instruct the central bank, which manages the fund, to divest from companies “where there is an unacceptable risk of complicity in violating international law in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
The letter also urges Stoltenberg to initiate more precise guidelines for the observation and exclusion of companies from the oil fund “in such a way that they are in accordance with international law.”
Daily VG was the first to report on the letter.
Krogstad said LO would also request a meeting with Stoltenberg to discuss the issue, but no date has been set.
The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has stated that it is crucial for the fund not to be perceived as a tool of foreign policy and that it adheres to ethical guidelines established by parliament.
The fund has faced pressure to divest from companies active in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the start of the war in October 2023. Since then, it has divested from telecoms company Bezeq, and another unnamed company is under consideration for exclusion by the central bank’s board.
Most other companies active in the occupied Palestinian territories have been cleared in a review by the fund’s ethical watchdog, which operates the fund’s ethical guidelines.
As of the end of 2024, the fund held stocks worth 22 billion crowns ($2.12 billion) across 65 companies listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange, representing 0.1% of the fund’s overall investments, according to fund data.
