OSLO, August 11, 2025 (WAFA) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, announced on Monday that it was selling its investments in 11 Israeli companies due to the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, according to the Local news website.
It reported that Nicolai Tangen, chief of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund, saying the decision was taken "in response to extraordinary circumstances".
"The situation in Gaza is a serious humanitarian crisis. We are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and conditions in the West Bank and Gaza have recently worsened," Tangen said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the Norwegian government said that it would review its sovereign wealth fund's investments in Israel after the country’s leading newspaper revealed it had a stake in an Israeli company that provides services to Israel’s armed forces, leading to a public outcry.
Aftenposten published an investigation on Monday saying that the $1.9 trillion fund had invested in the Israeli company, Bet Shemesh Engines, which provides jet engine parts to Israeli fighter jets that are being used in its genocidal war on Gaza.
Finance minister and former head of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, said in a statement it was understandable that questions are being raised about the fund's investments in the Israeli company, given that the fund is not supposed to invest in companies that enable states to violate international law, Verdens Gang reported on Tuesday.
“The war in Gaza is contrary to international law and is causing terrible suffering, so it is understandable that questions are being raised about the fund’s investments in Bet Shemesh Engines,” Stoltenberg said.
“In light of…the deteriorating situation in Gaza and the West Bank, I will today ask Norges Bank and the Council on Ethics to conduct a renewed review of the fund's investments in Israeli companies and Norges Bank's work on responsible management," Stoltenberg said.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told public broadcaster NRK that the fund's investment in the Israeli company was “worrying”.
"We must get clarification on this because reading about it makes me uneasy," he added.
In May 2025, Norway's sovereign wealth fund decided to divest from Israel’s Paz Retail and Energy because it owns and operates infrastructure supplying fuel to Israeli colonies in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The fund, the world's largest, owns 1.5 percent of listed shares across 9,000 companies globally. Worth $1.8 trillion, the Norwegian fund has been an international leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment field.
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