Danish fund manager AkademikerPension is excluding Israeli state assets, including government-controlled companies, from its investment portfolio, it said on Wednesday, due to the war in Gaza and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
It is the latest decision by a European fund manager to curtail investments in Israel, following recent divestments by Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund.
Divesting from Israel
The 157 billion Danish crowns ($24.77 billion) AkademikerPension, which manages the pensions of Danish teachers and university lecturers, said the conflict was not in accordance with international humanitarian principles.
"This comes as an assessment of the state of Israel's ability to uphold human rights," CEO Jens Munch Holst told Reuters.
The United Nations' highest court last year said Israel's "occupation" of Palestinian territories and settlements there were illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, in a ruling that Tel Aviv rejected as "fundamentally wrong" and one-sided.
($1 = 6.3393 Danish crowns)