A landmark legal development has put four of Norway’s most senior current and former political leaders under formal criminal investigation over allegations they aided and abetted genocide in Gaza through their oversight of the country’s $2.2 trillion sovereign wealth fund. The complaint, filed by Norwegian activist groups, alleges the officials violated domestic Norwegian laws that integrate provisions of the Rome Statute banning genocide by allowing the Government Pension Fund of Norway (GPFG)—the world’s largest single sovereign investor—to maintain holdings in firms linked to Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Named in the primary complaint brought by Grandmothers Against Genocide (Grag) are sitting Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, current Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, former Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, and former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who also previously served as Norway’s finance minister. A complementary complaint submitted by the Palestine Committee of Norway adds two more senior figures: GPFG Chief Executive Nicolai Tangen and Ida Wolden Bache, governor of Norway’s central bank, which manages the fund.
In a reversal of an earlier dismissal, documents obtained exclusively by Middle East Eye confirm that Norway’s Prosecuting Authority has formally ordered the country’s national criminal investigation unit, Kripos, to open a full probe into the allegations. Prosecutors have also instructed Kripos to formally notify all respondents named in the complaint of the pending investigation.
The case centers on the GPFG’s controversial investment strategy related to firms operating in or linked to Israel. In 2025, the fund divested from 23 Israeli companies over documented violations of its internal ethical investment guidelines, a decision that drew fierce public backlash from the United States, with State Department officials stating they were “very troubled” by the move. Despite that divestment, the fund retained stakes in 29 other Israeli firms, and continues to hold shares in major multinational arms manufacturers including Leonardo and ThyssenKrupp—both of which supply military equipment directly to the Israel Defense Forces, which has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the outbreak of hostilities in October 2023, according to Gazan health authorities.
A parliamentary push for full, blanket divestment from all companies linked to Israeli war crimes was defeated in the Norwegian Storting (parliament) in June of last year, after the governing Labour Party joined conservative opposition parties to reject the proposal. Months earlier, United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese had written directly to Stoltenberg warning that the fund’s ongoing holdings put Norway at risk of violating binding international law.
Activists behind the complaint say the investigation is long overdue and would set a critical precedent for holding elected officials accountable for mass atrocities abroad. Kirsti Maehle, co-founder of Grag, argued that prosecuting responsible officials would establish a clear guiding principle for Norwegian representatives who have thus far ignored the suffering of Palestinian civilians. “They sit in our parliament, the Storting, and vote in favour of the investments. That amounts to voting to contribute to crimes against humanity, which is absolutely outrageous,” Maehle stated.
Legal analysis backing the complaint, prepared in a personal capacity by Terje Einarsen, a law professor at the University of Bergen, notes that explicit intent to enable atrocities is not required to establish legal liability under Norwegian law. Einarsen told Middle East Eye that senior Norwegian government leaders have almost certainly been aware of the core crimes committed in Gaza and the role that fund-invested companies play in enabling those abuses. “They may thus be legally responsible for aiding and abetting one or more crimes,” Einarsen explained.
Complaints have also been bolstered by a 118-page independent academic report from the group Historians for Palestine, published in June 2024, which documents the GPFG’s holdings in firms linked to human rights violations and war crimes. The report was submitted alongside the criminal complaint as key evidence. Co-author Pal Nygaard, a professor of economic history at the Norwegian Business School, emphasized that continuing these investments directly reinforces impunity for Israel. “It is important that the fund follows its own ethical guidelines and acts as a truly responsible investor, and that means divesting from all companies that contribute to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, their apartheid system, and their genocide,” Nygaard said. He added, “The continued investments in companies that actively contribute to Israel’s violation of international law equals accepting these mass atrocities. In the end, it is the politicians who designed this system for responsible investments, and they are then also ultimately responsible for ensuring that the fund and its Council on Ethics manage the fund’s investments accordingly.”
Earlier this week, Grag submitted updated evidence regarding the fund’s investments to Norway’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. Middle East Eye has reached out to the Norwegian Prime Minister’s Office, GPFG, Kripos, and the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority for comment on the investigation, and had not received a response as of publication.