Nordic fund KLP boycotts 16 companies over links with settlements

Norway’s largest pension fund KLP said on Monday it would no longer invest in 16 companies including Alstom (ALSO. PA) and Motorola (MSI.N) because of their links to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

An Israeli official contended the move, which it said harmed

Israelis and Palestinians and did nothing to advance a resolution to the conflict.

Along with a number of other countries, Norway considers the settlements a breach of international law.

The previous Trump administration, in contrast, held that settlements were not inconsistent with international law.

The companies, which span telecoms, banking, energy and construction, all help facilitate Israel’s presence and therefore risk being complicit in breaches of international law, and against KLP’s ethical guidelines, the pension fund said in a statement.

“In KLP’s assessment, there is an unacceptable risk that the excluded companies are contributing to the abuse of human rights in situations of war and conflict through their links with the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank,” it said.

The move by KLP follows a decision by Norway’s sovereign wealth fund in May to exclude two companies linked to construction and real estate in the Palestinian territories.

The fund said it had sold shares in the companies worth 275 million Norwegian crowns ($31.81 million) and as of June had completed the process. In Motorola and Alstom, it has also sold its bond holdings.

Selling Motorola Solutions was “a very straightforward decision” as its video security and software has been used in border surveillance.

Telecom companies including Bezeq (BEZQ.TA) and Cellcom Israel (CEL.TA) were also removed since the services they provide help make the settlements more attractive residential areas, KLP said, while banks including Leumi (LUMI.TA) helped finance the infrastructure.

In 2020, the United Nation Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published a database, known in Israel as the black list, which found 112 companies that have operations linked to areas over the pre-1967 lines, such as settlements, east Jerusalem and the Golan.