Norway oil fund removes two Israeli companies over West Bank activities

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has decided to remove two companies involved in the development of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, citing concerns about potential human rights violations.

The $1.3tn oil fund said late on Wednesday that it had sold out of Shapir Engineering and Industry and Mivne Real Estate. The fund has also barred them from its portfolio “due to unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to systematic violations of individuals’ rights in situations or war or conflict”.