Arms sales to Israel: KLP withdraws from Oshkosh and Tyssenkrupp

Norway's largest pension fund announced Monday that it has divested from the American Oshkosh Corporation and German thyssenkrupp groups, accused of supplying the Israeli army with weapons for use in the Gaza Strip. The KLP fund accuses Oshkosh Corporation of continuing to sell trucks to Israel, which the Israeli army then converts into armored personnel carriers, and thyssenkrupp of having agreed, before the start of the war in Gaza, to supply corvettes and submarines to the Israeli navy.

"Companies have a standalone duty of care to avoid contributing to violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law," Kiran Aziz, head of responsible investments at KLP, said in a statement. Both companies were excluded under KLP's criterion of "sales of arms to states involved in armed conflict and using such arms in a manner constituting serious and systematic violations of the rules of international law in conflict."

The fund said it emphasized that the two groups had long-standing cooperation with the Israeli military and that their deliveries had continued after the outbreak of war in Gaza on October 7, 2023. "The transfer of arms and ammunition to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and expose States to the risk of complicity in international crimes, including, possibly, genocide," UN experts warned on June 20, 2024.

KLP, which managed €97 billion in assets in the first quarter, has therefore sold its stakes in Oshkosh Corporation and Thyssenkrupp, which were worth 19 and 10 million crowns (€1.6 million and €0.9 million respectively). Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund with approximately €1,637 billion in assets, is also under pressure to further divest from companies accused of helping Israel continue the war in Gaza and colonization in the occupied West Bank.