Norway to review sovereign wealth fund's Israel investments
The review followed a report by the Aftenposten daily that said the $1.9 trillion fund had built a stake in 2023-24 in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets.
The fund's investment in the Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd. (BSEL) group is worrying, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told public broadcaster NRK.
'We must get clarification on this because reading about it makes me uneasy,' Stoere said.
BSEL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the fund, took a 1.3 percent stake in BSEL in 2023 and raised this to 2.09 percent by the end of 2024, holding shares worth $15.2 million, the latest available NBIM records show.
In light of Aftenposten's story and the security situation in Gaza and the West Bank, the central bank will now conduct a review of NBIM's Israeli holdings, Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen told NRK that BSEL had not appeared on any lists of recommended exclusions, such as by the United Nations or the fund's own ethics council.
Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the sovereign wealth fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95 billion, its records show.
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, has sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecoms group in the last year, and its ethics council has said it is reviewing whether to recommend divesting holdings in five banks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel's Gaza strategy stirs internal division
In this episode of W News Extra, presented by Leigh-Ann Gerrans, we'll discuss US envoy Steve Witkoff's latest meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as US President Donald Trump punishes India for their purchase of Russian oil. We also cover the war in Gaza, where Israel's defense minister says the military will carry out any government decisions on Gaza, amid reports of internal disagreements over a full occupation of the Palestinian territory.
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Liverpool set to cut losses with Nunez move to Saudi: reports
LIVERPOOL: Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez is reportedly closing in on a move to Saudi club Al-Hilal, which could allow the Premier League champions to make a fresh bid for Newcastle's Alexander Isak. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport Nunez joined the Reds for an initial 75 million euros ($87 million, £65 million) from Benfica three years ago but has failed to live up to that price tag. The Uruguayan has scored 40 goals in 143 appearances but slipped down the pecking order at Anfield under both Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot. According to transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, Al-Hilal will pay an initial 53 million euros for the 26-year-old. BREAKING: Darwin Núñez to Al Hilal, here we go! Verbal agreement has been completed between all parties. €53m plus add-ons to Liverpool as revealed today, 3 year deal for Núñez. Núñez said yes and Inzaghi only wanted him. Medical next. Exclusive story, confirmed. — Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 6, 2025 Nunez was likely to play even less this season after Liverpool signed Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz as part of a 300 million euro spending spree that also includes full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong. However, the club could still break the British transfer record by signing Isak, with Newcastle reportedly demanding a fee of up to £150 million for the Swedish striker. The sale of Nunez would take Liverpool's income for transfer sales this window to nearly 200 million euros after the departures of Luis Diaz, Jarell Quansah, Caoimhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Tyler Morton. Harvey Elliott is also attracting interest from RB Leipzig, with Liverpool wanting at least 45 million euros for the England midfielder. Nunez would become the latest big name to join Al-Hilal, who shocked Manchester City to reach the quarter-finals of the recent Club World Cup. Coached by former Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi, the Saudi club's squad includes Portuguese internationals Ruben Neves and Joao Cancelo, Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly and former Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Israel's Unit 8200 used Microsoft cloud to store ‘a million calls an hour' of Palestinian phone conversations
LONDON: Israel's military surveillance agency, Unit 8200, has used Microsoft Azure cloud services to store recordings of millions of mobile phone calls made daily by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank since 2022. The cloud-based storage platform has enabled the execution of lethal Israeli airstrikes and has influenced military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, according to a joint investigation by The Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call. After a meeting in late 2021 between Yossi Sariel, the head of Unit 8200, and Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, work commenced on a customized, segregated area within the Microsoft Azure cloud platform for the Israeli intelligence agency to store a vast archive of daily communications from Palestinians. Unit 8200, the rough equivalent of the US' National Security Agency, had determined that the Israeli military's servers lacked the necessary storage space and computing power to handle the volume of phone calls from an entire population — about 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank and another 2.3 million in Gaza. Sources revealed that the 'a million calls an hour' mantra that spread within Unit 8200 captured the project's scale, using Azure's near-limitless storage capacity to collect and store recordings of millions of Palestinians. The new system allowed intelligence officers to store and replay the content of cellular calls made by Palestinians, uncovering conversations from a wider pool of ordinary civilians. Sources described the system as indiscriminate and intrusive, labeling it as a tool that turned an entire population into an 'enemy.' Israel controls the telecommunications networks in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. However, the latter has been severely damaged by Israel's military campaign that began in late 2023, which has resulted in the killing of more than 60,000 Palestinians, including 18,000 children. In Gaza, intelligence from phone call data in Azure was reportedly used by Unit 8200 to identify bombing targets. Officers would analyze calls from Palestinian individuals nearby when planning airstrikes in densely populated areas with many civilians, sources said. Microsoft is under pressure from both employees and investors regarding its links to Israel's military and the role its technology plays in Gaza. In May, an employee interrupted a keynote speech by Nadella, shouting: 'How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?' In 2022, the system initially focused on the West Bank, which is under Israeli military occupation. Sources from Unit 8200 said that the information stored in Azure served as a rich intelligence source, and that the Israeli military used it to blackmail individuals, detain them or justify killings afterward. 'When they need to arrest someone and there isn't a good enough reason to do so, that's where they find the excuse,' one said, referring to the information stored in the Microsoft cloud. By July this year, about 11,500 terabytes of Israeli military data, roughly 200 million hours of audio, was stored on Microsoft's Azure servers in the Netherlands, with some in Ireland. It is unclear if all the data is from Unit 8200 or other Israeli military units, sources said. During the development of the system, Microsoft and Unit 8200 engineers collaborated to implement advanced security measures in Azure, in order to meet the Israeli unit's standards. The project was highly secretive, with Microsoft staff instructed not to mention Unit 8200, which informed Microsoft that it planned to gradually migrate up to 70 percent of its data to the cloud, including both secret and top-secret information. 'The rhythm of interaction with (the unit) is daily, top down and bottom up,' one leaked document said. Microsoft responded to the report, saying: 'At no time during this engagement ... has Microsoft been aware of the surveillance of civilians or collection of their cellphone conversations using Microsoft's services, including through the external review it commissioned.' It added that its 'engagement with Unit 8200 has been based on strengthening cybersecurity and protecting Israel from nation state and terrorist cyberattacks'. Sariel resigned late last year after leading Unit 8200 since early 2021. He is described as a tech evangelist who adopted a vision of military and intelligence agencies migrating to the cloud. He reportedly accepted responsibility for Unit 8200's role in the intelligence and operational failure that led to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and the abduction of almost 240 others. He declined to comment on the report. An Israeli military spokesperson told The Guardian that its work with Microsoft was based on 'legally supervised agreements.' It added: 'The IDF operates in accordance with international law, with the aim of countering terrorism and ensuring the security of the state and its citizens.'
