Norway's wealth fund divests from Israel's Bezeq over services in the occupied West Bank

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, announced on Tuesday that it has sold all its shares in Israel’s largest telecoms group, Bezeq, as it provides telecommunication services to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The decision comes after the fund’s ethics watchdog adopted a tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that support Israel’s actions in occupied Palestinian territories.

The fund's ethics council, says that though Bezeq provides telecom services to Palestinians in the West Bank as well, it does not “outweigh the fact that the company, through its physical presence and provision of telecom services to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, is helping to facilitate the maintenance and expansion of these settlements.

“By doing so, the company is itself contributing to the violation of international law.”

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