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World's Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Divests From Caterpillar Over IDF Rights Abuses

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August 27, 2025
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World's Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Divests From Caterpillar Over IDF Rights Abuses

World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Divests From Caterpillar Over IDF Rights Abuses

In the latest demonstration of growing Western opposition to Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund on Monday announced it is divesting from Caterpillar, over concerns that the Israel Defense Forces are using Caterpillar bulldozers to violate human rights. Norway’s $2 trillion wealth fund — which springs from the country’s oil wealth — held a 1.17% stake in the Texas-headquartered company, valued at $2.1 billion as of June 30. 

Armored, 62-ton Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers play a central role in the IDF’s flattening of homes, neighborhoods and cities in Gaza (IDF photo)

While Caterpillar’s products are classified as “construction” equipment, the IDF regularly uses massive, armored Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers to destroy homes and other civilian infrastructure — not only in Gaza, but the occupied West Bank as well: 

Sovereign wealth funds are rare among the world’s democracies. In Norway, divestment decisions are largely driven by the recommendations of an independent ethics council established by the Finance Ministry. After evaluating Caterpillar, the Council on Ethics reported: 

“There is an unacceptable risk that Caterpillar is contributing to serious violation of the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict… Bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar are being used by Israeli authorities in the widespread unlawful destruction of Palestinian property...There is no doubt that Caterpillar’s products are being used to commit extensive and systematic violations of international humanitarian law. The company has also not implemented any measures to prevent such use.”

Caterpillar has long been one of the principal targets of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which — echoing the 1980s divestment campaign against South African apartheid — attempts to use economic pressure on Israel to advance the Palestinian cause. In an infamous 2003 incident, an IDF soldier used a Caterpillar D-9 to fatally crush 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie as she tried to prevent the IDF from destroying homes in Rafah, Gaza.  

One of the most striking dimensions of Israel’s post-Oct 7 war on Gaza is the systematic, wholesale destruction of entire neighborhoods, villages and cities. Far from an incidental side-effect of the IDF campaign, this drive to render Gaza uninhabitable is intentional, as powerful Israeli Finance Minster Bezalel Smotrich told a West Bank settlement conference in May: 

“Within a few months…Gaza will be totally destroyed. The Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south. They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”

Alongside US-supplied bombs and controlled demolitions, Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers play a central role in turning Gaza into a vast expanse of rubble. In July, a BBC report used before-and-after satellite imagery to confirm the IDF’s methodical obliteration of vast swaths of Gaza, in violation of international law and basic morality. Professor Janina Dill, co-director of Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law & Armed Conflict, told BBC that occupying armies are compelled to supervise held territory in a way that benefits the native population, a charge that is “incompatible with a military approach that simply makes the territory uninhabitable and leaves nothing standing”.

Via BBC, these before-and-after images illustrate the IDF’s wholesale obliteration of residential areas throughout Gaza (click/tap to enlarge)

On Monday, Norway’s wealth fund announced it was also divesting from five Israeli banks: Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, First International Bank of Israel and FIBI Holdings. The fund said the banks were also associated with a high risk of facilitating human rights violations. Earlier this month, Norway announced the sale of its stake in Bet Shemesh Engines, an Israeli jet-engine firm that serves the IDF. It opened that position one month after the IDF began its assault on Gaza following the Oct 7, 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel. 

Perhaps the best indication of the centrality of Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers in the IDF arsenal is the high frequency with which they appear as targets in videos showcasing Hamas operations in Gaza: 

Tyler Durden
Wed, 08/27/2025 – 06:55

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