Overview
- Norway submitted a draft bill for public consultation on Friday, June 19, 2026, and set a three-month comment period that runs until 19 September 2026.
- The proposal would ban importing from and exporting to Israeli settlements, buying property there, providing construction-related services, and acquiring businesses based in settlements while exempting humanitarian aid and Palestinian activity.
- Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the move responds to settlements the government regards as in breach of international law and a driver of displacement, settler violence, and obstacles to a two-state outcome.
- Israel responded by withdrawing ambassadors from Oslo, Dublin and Madrid and summoning Nordic and European envoys, and the measure follows coordinated Western sanctions announced earlier this month targeting networks linked to settler violence.
- Rights experts and UN officials called the step limited and flagged unresolved questions about enforcement, corporate guidance and whether Norway’s vast sovereign wealth fund still holds stakes tied to the occupation.