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Norway Said to Reject Calls for Blanket Ban by Wealth Fund on Companies in Gaza, West Bank
An armed police officer guards the main entrance to the Norwegian parliament in Oslo, Norway April 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Gwladys Fouche
Norway‘s parliament is poised to reject campaigners’ calls to instruct its $1.8 trillion wealth fund to boycott any company selling products and services in the Palestinian territories, according to a person familiar with the process.
A majority in the Norwegian parliament’s finance committee has decided that only companies that can be linked to the violation of international law should be excluded from the fund‘s portfolio, not just any companies with a presence in these areas, the person said.
The International Court of Justice said last year Israel’s “occupation of Palestinian territories” was illegal and it should pull out as soon as possible, in a ruling that Israel rejected as “fundamentally wrong” and one-sided.
Currently, the fund, which operates under ethical guidelines set by the Norwegian parliament, has blacklisted 11 companies for assisting Israel’s policies in the territories, the last of which was Israeli petrol station chain Paz earlier this month.
At the end of last year, the fund had just over $2 billion invested in 65 Israeli companies, or 0.1 percent of its total.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the fund has faced growing pressure to divest from Israeli companies and all companies active in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
That would effectively force it to sell billions of dollars in stakes in major Western brands, some of which have already faced consumer boycott calls especially in Muslim-majority countries because they were perceived as friendly to Israel.
Campaigners want the Norwegian government to take the same action on Israel-linked investments as it did on Russian ones in 2022, when three days after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine it instructed the fund to dispose of all of its holdings in Russia.
However, the decision by the parliamentary finance committee means no blanket ban on Israeli firms or on multinationals with global sales only because their products and services are available in Palestinian territories.
“If a company sells a generic product, which Israeli settlers buy, then this should not be sufficient to sell the fund out of the company,” said the person familiar with the committee’s decision, adding it would constitute a wider interpretation of the guidelines.
“But if we are speaking of specific products for, say, surveillance that are made specifically for the needs of Israeli settlers, then that is something completely different.”
The committee’s decision is part of its assessment of the government’s annual filing on the wealth fund, which is due to be debated in parliament on June 4, with a vote expected the same day.
Lawmakers are expected to vote along their parties’ lines as set in the parliamentary finance committee’s conclusions.
The decision will be closely watched, given Norway‘s fund, which owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares across 9,000 companies, is seen as a leader in the field of investing focused on environmental, social and governance issues.
The finance committee also decided the fund should maintain a ban on investments in defense contractors that make components for nuclear weapons, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, or Airbus.
As Reuters earlier reported, political parties have debated whether to remove the ban given the changed security environment created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the need to develop the Western defense industry.
But ultimately a majority of the finance committee decided against, concerned that its lifting would make managing the fund‘s ethical risk more complex.
The fund already owns shares in defense companies that sell weapons to Israel, including Germany’s Rheinmetall and Italy’s Leonardo, but not in the larger ones, like Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman.
($1 = 10.2958 Norwegian crowns)
The post Norway Said to Reject Calls for Blanket Ban by Wealth Fund on Companies in Gaza, West Bank first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.