UPDATED: Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg says he’s glad Norway’s Oil Fund has “acted quickly” to sell off several of its highly controversial stakes in Israeli companies that have contributed to Israel’s war on Gaza. “This is a first, important step,” he said at a press conference Monday, adding that he expects several more. On Tuesday, though, came news that he’ll have to answer to Parliament.
Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg has admitted that he thinks the Norwegian Oil Funds’ investments in Israeli firms tied to Israel’s attacks on Palestinians has weakened public confidence in it. PHOTO: Ida Laingen / Finansdepartementet
Stoltenberg was initially reacting to a statement issued on Monday by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which runs Norway’s huge state pension fund fueled by the country’s oil revenues. It reported that it had sold its stakes in 11 Israeli firms and was “bringing its fund management home,” after teminating agreements it had with external fund managers in Israel.
The external managers had bought the stakes in Israeli companies doing business with the Israeli military and involved in projects on the West Bank, where Palestinians have been driven off their land during years of Israeli occupation. All such holdings are viewed as having defied the Oil Fund’s own ethical standards, and set off a torrent of criticism both within Norway and outside of it, not least from officials at the United Nations. The credibility of both the Oil Fund and ultimately the Norwegian government is at stake, after various violations of the fund’s own ethical standards.
Stoltenberg also said he thinks all the trouble now swirling around the fund has “contributed to weakening the confidence” Norwegians themselves have had in it. Stoltenberg said he still has confidence in Oil Fund leader Nicolai Tangen, as does Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, but stressed how it’s the central bank (Norges Bank) that’s in charge of NBIM’s top post. Tangen has himself taken on “all responsibility” for what several political leaders are calling a scandal.
Tangen and other Oil Fund leaders have been under intense pressure, especially after newspaper Aftenposten reported early last week that it held stakes in an Israeli company that services the Israeli fighter jets that have been bombing Palestinians in Gaza for the past two years. Even though Israel’s war on Gaza was sparked by a Palestinian attack on Israelis in October 2023, the Norwegian government and many others think Israel’s retaliation has gone too far, violated the rule of law and created a humanitarian catastrophe that’s also being equated to genocide.
Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (left) was Norway’s finance minister when the Oil Fund invested in Israeli companies tied to the war on Gaza in late 2023. Vedum was still in the post when the Oil Fund boosted its now-controversial Israeli investments in 2024. Stoltenberg didn’t take over as finance minister until earlier this year, but now faces questioning in Parliament. PHOTO: Statsministerens kontor
Several of the purchases that failed to set off alarms began in late 2023 and extended into 2024, when the Center Party’s leader Tryvge Slagsvold Vedum was still finance minister and Stoltenberg was still secretary general of NATO. Vedum and his party left the then-Labour-Center government in January, and Stoltenberg made a surprise return to Norway as finance minister. Now it’s Stoltenberg who’s had to take responsibility for the Oil Fund’s questionable, if profitable, Israeli investing: The share prices of many of those companies now sold off had risen dramatically as the war escalated.
Norwegian government leaders have stressed that the Oil Fund must follow its ethical guidelines and not invest in any companies that violate the rule of law. Violations have nonetheless occurred and Oil Fund managers got firm orders last week to correct them. “I’m glad the bank (Norway’s central bank, which runs the Oil Fund) has followed our urging and acted quickly,” Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, however, came more news that Stoltenberg will have to answer to Parliament over what many are calling a “scandal,” right in the middle of his Labour Party’s re-election campaign. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that the Parliament’s disciplinary committee, in charge of control- and constitutional issues, is sending several questions that Stoltenberg will have to answer by August 21.
“There’s considerable doubt over how this has all been handled,” said committee leader Peter Frølich of the Liberal Party (Venstre). It’s on the conservative side of Norwegian politics and thus part of the current opposition, but he has support from both the Socialist Left- and Reds parties, both of which are candidates to form a new coalition government with Labour.
NBIM, meanwhile, opted to stress in its own statement about the Israeli sell-offs that it’s “simplifying” its funds management in Israel by moving it home to Norway. NBIM confirmed it will also sell off “as quickly as possible” all investments in Israeli companies that aren’t in the Finance Ministry’s reference index. NBIM reported that it is now underway with a “thorough evaluation” of its Israeli portfolio and is in “tight dialogue” with its ethics council, which has earlier claimed it wasn’t aware of the fund’s stakes in Israeli firms that sell to or support the Israeli military.
Nicolai Tangen has spent lots of time since taking over as the Oil Fund boss in 2020 on opening up the fund, making podcasts and even writing a new book about leadership. Now he’s busy overseeing the sell-off of profitable but controversial Israeli investments. PHOTO: Kagge Forlag/Lars Petter Pettersen
The Oil Fund further reported that as of June 30, it had investments in 61 Israeli companies, 11 of which were not in the Finance Ministry’s reference index. That’s why they’re being sold off immediately.
NBIM and Oil Fund boss Tangen said the new steps were being taken in “a special conflict situation” that has evolved into a “serious humanitarian crisis.” He stressed “extraordinary circumstances” and noted that “we are invested in companies that operate in a country at war, and the conditions in Gaza and the West Bank have recently worsened.” It’s thus necessary “to further strengthen our due diligence.” That’s come, however, only after media reports of all the violations of the fund’s own ethical standards.
On Tuesday the Oil Fund reported another profitable first half of the year, with earnings up 5.7 percent on an overall return of NOK 698 billion. The value of the fund itself had declined by NOK 156 billion as of June 30, down to 19,586 billion kroner. It had recovered as of Tuesday, to 20,183 billion kroner.
While Tangen claims he and his staff have “long paid particular attention to companies associated with war and conflict,” critics both in and outside Norway still think neither NBIM staff nor its ethics council have sufficiently done their jobs. The critics include the UN’s specially appointed official in charge of Palestinian issues, Francesca Albanese, who sent the UN’s long list of concerns to the Norwegian government earlier this year. Stoltenberg defended Norway’s Israeli investing at the time, even though much of it was undertaken long before he took over as finance minister after Vedum. Media reports over the past week have proven Vedum, Stoltenberg and Tangen wrong.
“The time has come for the Norwegian people to take hold (of its Israeli investments) and make sure their institutions and wealth are used in line with the rule of law,” Albanese told Norwegian Broadasting (NRK) after hearing about the Oil Fund’s sell-off on Monday. She added that in her opinion, that hasn’t happened. Now, she told NRK, the “Norwegian pension fund must divest in order to fully comply with international law and not to bring shame on the Norwegian people.”
Albanese went on to say that “the facts speak for themselves” and that “this is embarrassing” for Norway. She said she’ll now issue clear demands to Norway and the world that they must cut all economic ties to Israel, impose sanctions against Israel, that Norwegian companies sell off any stakes they may have in Israel companies and that Norway should send ships with emergency aid to Gaza.
It’s unlikely either the government of Norwegian companies will go that far. Norwegian governments on both the left and right have wanted to maintain ties with both Israeli- and Palestinian leaders, out of ongoing hopes for peace in the Middle East. While Prime Minister Støre’s government was among the first to recognize a Palestinian state last year, and has later agreed that Israel was violating the rule of law, he still wants contact with both sides.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
