As the West Bank is being annexed to Israel through blood and violence, many Israeli and international businesses and financials are tacitly supporting the ethnic cleansing with their business operations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
Recently, the Norwegian parliament rejected efforts to tighten rules on its huge sovereign wealth fund investing in companies operating in the West Bank. Despite Norway’s central role in the initiation of the two-state peace process in the 1990s, the Norwegians lawmakers voted by 88 to 16 against a proposal that would have ordered the fund to withdraw from companies “that contribute to Israel’s war crimes and the illegal occupation” of the West Bank.
Fueled by vast revenue from Norway’s abundant oil and gas exports, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is the biggest in the world and has some $1.8 trillion invested around the globe. Its precedence-setting example matters, especially as it prides itself over the fact that many companies are excluded from its portfolios “on ethical grounds.”
Why then the vote for continued war crimes, illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing?
Double standards
According to its ethical guidelines, the Fund cannot invest money in companies that directly or indirectly contribute to killing, torture, deprivation of freedom or other violations of human rights in conflict situations or wars. But in practice, the fund is allowed to invest in a number of arms-producing companies, as only some kind of weapons, such as nuclear arms, are banned by the ethical guidelines as investment objects.
In the past two decades, the Fund has excluded some Israeli companies, but in a highly restrictive manner, including Elbit Systems (Sep. 2009), due to supply of surveillance systems for the Israeli West Bank barrier; Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus (Aug. 2010), and Shikun Uvinui (Jun. 2012), due to violation of international humanitarian law in occupied Palestinian territory by being involved in developing settlements.
Such exclusions create an impression of token concern because there are dozens and dozens of both Israeli and international companies operating in the West Bank, even as its Palestinian residents are under constant threat of violence and ethnic cleansing.
In Norway, the government was under pressure to use its financial clout to influence Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank, where its settlement policy has long been deemed illegal under international law. Some 50 Norwegian NGOs, spearheaded by the country’s main union, called on the Labor government to ensure that the fund’s investments were in line with the country’s legal obligations.
Meanwhile, UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, urged Oslo to “fully and unconditionally divest from all entities linked to Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory.” In his reply of May 30, Norway’s finance minister Jens Stoltenberg said the Norwegian government was deeply concerned by developments in Palestine, both in Gaza and in the West Bank. Then he proceeded to defend the “legality” of the Fund’s controversial investments in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Stoltenberg is the former chief of NATO.
Business operations in the West Bank
Since the late 2010s, the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) has used independent international fact-finding missions to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem. These reports do not cover all companies operating in the occupied territories. However, they do include the major ones that play the most critical roles (see Table at bottom).
The overwhelming majority of these firms are headquartered in Israel. There are more than 110 such companies. Since the first OHCHR report in 2020, some are no longer involved in the listed activities, such as General Mills and its Israeli subsidiary, which likely divested following a campaign to get the company to stop manufacturing its Pillsbury products on stolen Palestinian land. In addition to a broad variety of Israeli companies making money on the illicit territories, several international companies prevail in these areas, including Airbnb and Expedia (U.S.), Booking.com and Tahal Group (Netherlands), J.C. Bamford Excavators and Opodo (UK).
Still others operate through their parent organizations, including Motorola and Booking Holdings (U.S.), Egis (France), and Altice (Luxembourg), and licensors or franchisors, such as Greenkote (UK).
European financial institutions behind settler expansion
According to Don’t Buy into Occupation (DBIO), a coalition of 25 Palestinian, regional and European organizations, in the early 2020s almost 800 European financial institutions, including banks, asset managers, insurance companies, and pension funds, had financial relationships with more than 50 businesses that were actively involved with Israeli settlements.
All of these companies were involved in activities that raise particular human rights concerns, which constitute the basis for inclusion in the UN database of business enterprises.
The list had almost 40 major European creditors, including BNP Paribas, HSCBC and Barclays, and 50 European investors, including Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank and Allianz.
In addition to Israeli companies, defense contractors, financial institutions and universities that have been targeted in boycott and sanction campaigns for years, recent boycott efforts have increasingly centered on companies that play a critical role in the occupied territories, especially in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Under international law, Israeli settlements, their maintenance and expansion are illegal activities, which give rise to individual criminal liability as war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Israeli, European, and international business enterprises, operating with or providing services to Israeli settlements, play a critical role in the functioning, sustainability and expansion of illegal settlements.
Israelis for boycotts
In the past decade, the Israeli government has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in PR struggles against the international boycott movement. Though controversial, the latter has attracted some Israeli Jews. Despite different political motivations, they are united by the quest for peace and the view that international pressure is necessary to achieve change in Israel.
In 2012, Avraham Burg, the former chair of the Knesset and interim president of Israel, endorsed a boycott of Israeli settlement products. Personally, he boycotted all products produced in the settlements, refusing to cross the Green Line; that is, the pre-1967 borders. Such products were not “made in Israel” and should not be mislabeled that way. Colonizing Palestinian lands has made Israel “the last colonial occupier in the Western world.”
Burg’s views were echoed by Ha’aretz journalist Gideon Levy, who also supported boycotting Israel, stressing that it was “the Israeli patriot’s final refuge.” As far he was concerned, “the change won’t come from within.”
International boycotts are painful, but they cost less than human massacres and economic expenditures associated with forever wars. They are neither antisemitic nor anti-Israel. They target the occupation, the settlers and their allies in Israel and elsewhere, and their violence.
Yet, the likelihood that most Israelis would adopt Gideon Levy’s view of Israeli boycotts is currently minimal, thanks to the parallel universe created by decades of massive U.S. military aid and money flows by American Jewry to Israel.
If the status quo is untenable and change won’t come from within, then change can only come from without.
“Squatters,” Digital, 2024
Table Israeli and International Companies in the Occupied Territories
Companies in settlements*
A. Business enterprises no longer involved in listed activities:
Amnon Mesilot Ltd.
Ashtrom Properties Ltd
Avgol Industries 1953
Bank Otsar Ha-Hayal
Brand Industries Ltd.
Citadis Israel Ltd.
Darban Investments Ltd.
Energy Renewable Energies
General Mills Inc.
General Mills Israel
Indorama Ventures P.C.L.
Jerusalem Economy Ltd.
Municipal Bank Ltd.
Pelegas Ltd.
Zorganika Ltd.
B. Business enterprises involved in listed activities
Airbnb Inc.
American Israeli Gas Corp
Amir Marketing and Investment Inc.
Amos Hadar Properties and Inv.
Angel Bakeries
Archivists Ltd.
Ariel Properties Group
Ashtrom Industries Ltd.
Bank Hapoalim B.M.
Bank Leumi Le-Israel B.M
Bank of Jerusalem Ltd.
Beit Haarchiv Ltd.
Bezeq the Israel Telecom Corp
Booking.com B.V.
C Mer Industries Ltd.
Café Café Israel Ltd.
Caliber
Cellcom Israel Ltd.
Cherriessa Ltd.
Chish Nofei Israel Ltd.
Comasco Ltd.
D.B.S Satellite Services Ltd
Delek Group Ltd.
Delta Israel Brands Ltd
Dor Alon Energy in Israel 1988 Ltd
Egis Rail
Egged Transportation Ltd.
Electra Afikim
EPR Systems Ltd.
Extal Ltd.
Expedia Group Inc.
Field Produce Ltd.
Field Produce Marketing Ltd.
First International Bank of Israel
Galshan Shvakim Ltd.
Hadiklaim Israel Date Growers
Hot Mobile Ltd.
Hot Telecom Systems
Mivne Real Estate
Israel Discount Bank
Israel Railways Corp
Italek Ltd.
J.C. Bamford Excavators
Kavim Public Transportation
Lipski Installation
Matrix IT Ltd.
Mayer Davidov Garages
Mekorot Water Company
Mercantile Discount Bank
Merkavim Transportation Tech
Mizrahi Tefahot Bank
Modi’in Ezrachi Group
Mordechai Aviv Tassiot
Motorola Solutions Israel
Naaman Group Ltd.
Nof Yam Security
Ofertex Industries 1997
Partner Communication
Paz Oil
Pelephone Communications
Proffimat S.R.
Rami Levy Chain Stores
Rami Levy Hashikma
Re/Max Israel
Shalgal Food Ltd.
Shapir Engineering
Shufersal Ltd.
Sonol Israel Ltd.
Superbus Ltd.
Supergum Industries
Tahal Group International
TripAdvisor Inc
Twitoplast Ltd.
Unikowsky Maoz Ltd.
Zakai Agriculture Know-how
ZF Development
ZMH Hammerman Ltd.
Zriha Hlavin Industries
C. Business enterprises involved as parent companies:
Alon Blue Square
Alstom S.A.10
Altice International Ltd.
Ashtrom Group Ltd.
Booking Holdings Inc.
Delta Galil Industries
ODIGEO S.A.
Egis Group
Electra Group Ltd.
Export Investment Co
Hadar Group
Hamat Group Ltd.
Kardan N.V.
Mayer’s Cars and Trucks
Motorola Solutions Inc.
Natoon Group
Villar International Ltd.
D. Business enterprise involved as licensors or franchisors
Greenkote P.L.C.
European creditors *
Loans and underwriting services to selected
companies, by creditor parent:
BNP Paribas
HSBC
Deutsche Bank
Société Générale
KfW
Barclays
Crédit Agricole
Santander
ING Group
UniCredit
Banco Bilbayo Vizcaya Argetaria
Commerzbank
Groupe BPCE
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken
NatWest
Standard Chartered
Intesa Sanpaolo
Crédit Mutuel
La Caixa
Danske Bank
Swedbank
Landesbank Baden Württemberg
DZ Bank
Nordea
BayernLB
Rabobank
Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen
Svenska Handelsbanken
KBC Group
DNB
Lloyds Banking
Raiffeisen Banking
Norddeutsche Landesbank
Hamburg Commercial Bank
Erste Group
Paragon Bank
La Banque Postale
BNP Finance
Banco de Sabadell
European investors *
Share and bondholding in selected companies,
by investor parent:
Government Pension Fund Global
Crédit Agricole
Deutsche Bank
Groupe BPCE
Legal & General
Allianz
Deka Group
Nordea
AB Industrivärden
BNP Paribas
DZ Bank
Schroders
Swedbank
“Algemeen Burgerlijk
Pensioenfonds”
HSBC
Janus Henderson
Intesa Sanpaolo
Barclays
AMF Pensionsförsäkring
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken
Svenska Handelsbanken
AXA
Alecta
Abrdn
“Pensioenfonds Zorg
en Welzijn”
Sjunde AP-fonden
M&G
Baillie Gifford
La Banque Postale
Storebrand
Aviva
Flossbach & von Storch
“Pensioenfonds Metaal en
Techniek”
Bpifrance
Första AP-Fonden
B-Flexion
Ackermans & Van Haaren
Independent Franchise Partners
Crédit Mutuel
Man Group
Royal London
Rothschild
“Pensioenfonds van de
Metalektro”
Fjärde AP-Fonden
Banco Mediolanum
AKO Capital
Aegon
Tredje AP- Fonden
KBC
Anima
* OHCHR update, UN Human Rights Office of the Commissioner, June 30, 2023. ** European Financial Institutions’ Continued Complicity in the Illegal Israeli Settlement Enterprise, Don’t Buy into Occupation, Dec., 2023.
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