A demonstration of the group Europe Palestine to demand the boycott of Israel, in Paris, France on May 15, 2022. Photo: Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect

A Norwegian hotel has refused to accommodate an Israeli traveler, citing a nationwide boycott against the Jewish state launched last week by the country’s powerful trade union, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO).

Upon receiving the request, the hotel — located in the village of Geiranger in western Norway, one of Scandinavia’s top tourist destinations — indicated it would need to consult with the trade union to determine whether hosting the Israeli traveler would be permitted under the new boycott guidelines.

“The Norwegian Labor Organization (LO) will soon enforce a boycott that will affect Israeli tourists and Israeli goods due to the catastrophic situation in Gaza,” read the response to the Israeli traveler’s booking request.

“We need to inform you that our staff is organized in LO unions, and they will not break the boycott. I will need to consult with the employers’ organization as I see this as a force majeure situation,” the hotel told the Israeli traveler.

BREAKING:
Norwegian hotels to boycott Israeli tourists.

Source: @StoppNRK
See: https://t.co/0tr55jwvFl pic.twitter.com/Mhy2pICn1n

— On Elpeleg 🎗️ (@onelpeleg) May 12, 2025

According to the hotel management, the organization’s boycott qualifies as a “force majeure” event, an unforeseen circumstance that prevents parties from meeting their contractual obligations and shields them from liability when exceptional situations disrupt normal expectations.

The hotel’s response was shared in a Facebook group, sparking outrage and widespread condemnation among its members.

“As a Jew who has been fighting antisemitism for 40 years, I have never experienced something so shocking. It’s like traveling back in time 85 years to 1940, to the period when Norway sent its Jews to Auschwitz,” one of the group’s members wrote in a comment.

“I am simply in shock – Norway was the last country in Europe to allow Jews to enter, and now it’s closing its doors again,” he continued.

Last week, Norway’s LO trade union voted in favor of a full economic boycott of Israel, while also urging the government to direct the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) to divest from Israeli companies, similar to how it mandated the divestment from Russian companies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The GPFG, also known as the Norwegian Oil Fund, is a sovereign wealth fund owned by the Norwegian government and managed by its central bank, created to manage surplus revenue from oil and gas exports, with investments in a diverse array of global assets and companies.

Despite its close ties to the LO union, Norway’s Labour-led government said it would not push for divestment from Israeli companies, arguing that it is best to allow the fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, to operate in accordance with the ethical guidelines approved by parliament.

“We don’t plan to change our strategy,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told Reuters on Friday after the LO vote.

“But I hope Israel is reading that this [the boycott] is an expression of a significant part of public opinion,” the Norwegian leader said.

Based on government guidelines, the GPFG follows an ethical investment strategy that includes avoiding companies involved in human rights violations, environmental harm, or other unethical practices, and has the authority to divest from such companies or sectors when necessary.

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas praised the LO’s decision to boycott “the Zionist occupation and ban trade and investment with its companies,” calling the move “a courageous step that embodies a clear alignment with truth and justice, and advocates for the rights of the Palestinian people.”

On Sunday, the GPFG — which is one of the largest funds in the world — announced that it had divested from Israel’s Paz Oil Company, citing its ownership and operation of infrastructure that supplies fuel to “Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”

“By operating infrastructure for the supply of fuel to the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Paz is contributing to their perpetuation,” the fund’s Council on Ethics watchdog said in its recommendation to divest. “The settlements have been established in violation of international law, and their perpetuation constitutes an ongoing violation thereof.”

This is the latest move by a European financial entity to sever ties with Israeli companies, amid growing pressure in Norway for the GPFG to fully divest from Israeli businesses following the outbreak of the Gaza war.

Overall, the Council on Ethics reviewed approximately 65 companies in the fund’s holdings across sectors such as energy supply, infrastructure, travel and tourism, and banking, but has not yet disclosed whether it made additional recommendations for divestment.