KLP, Norway’s biggest pension fund, has announced that it will no longer do business with two companies selling weapons to Israel as the equipment is possibly being used in the war in Gaza, according to AFP.
The Norwegian fund has dropped US group Oshkosh Corporation and Germany’s ThyssenKrupp from its investment portfolio as they supply Isreal with military trucks and equipment.
“Companies have an independent duty to exercise due diligence in order to avoid complicity in violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law,” Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP Asset Management, said in a statement.
KLP also accused ThyssenKrupp of providing Israel’s military with corvettes and submarines before the outbreak of Gaza War.
Crucially, the fund sold its holdings in Oshkosh Corporation worth 19 million kroner ($1.9 million). Meanwhile, it also sold its investment in ThyssenKrupp valued at 10 million kroner.
KLP also confirmed that both companies have strong cooperation with the Israeli armed forces and these relations continued even after the start of the war on Gaza.
“The transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws and risk state complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide,” UN experts warned in June 2024.
The exclusion of the two companies is based on KLP’s criterion relating to the “sale of weapons to states in armed conflicts that use the weapons in ways that represent serious and systematic breaches of international law governing the conflicts”, KLP said.
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