Israel Issues Travel Warning to Parts of Sri Lanka over Terror Threat

A view shows graffiti, partially painted over, on a bridge overlooking the city's main highway, near a building with a light display commemorating the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 22, 2024. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
A view shows graffiti, partially painted over, on a bridge overlooking the city's main highway, near a building with a light display commemorating the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 22, 2024. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
TT

Israel Issues Travel Warning to Parts of Sri Lanka over Terror Threat

A view shows graffiti, partially painted over, on a bridge overlooking the city's main highway, near a building with a light display commemorating the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 22, 2024. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
A view shows graffiti, partially painted over, on a bridge overlooking the city's main highway, near a building with a light display commemorating the deadly October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 22, 2024. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

Israel's national security council on Wednesday called on Israelis to immediately leave some tourist areas in southern Sri Lanka over the threat of a possible terrorist attack.

The agency said the warning pertained to the area of Arugam Bay and beaches in the south and west of Sri Lanka, and stemmed from "current information about a terrorist threat focused on tourist areas and beaches.”

The security council did not specify the exact nature of the threat and called on Israelis in the rest of Sri Lanka to be cautious and refrain from holding large gatherings in public areas.

"The Israeli security establishment ... is in close contact with the security authorities in Sri Lanka and is following the developments," it said. 
 



Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
TT

Thiel’s Palantir Dumped by Norwegian Investor over Work for Israel

The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)
The logo of US software company Palantir Technologies is seen in Davos, Switzerland, May 22, 2022. Picture taken May 22, 2022. (Reuters)

One of the Nordic region's largest investors has sold its holdings in Palantir Technologies because of concerns that the US data firm's work for Israel might put the asset manager at risk of violating international humanitarian law and human rights.

Storebrand Asset Management disclosed this week that it had "excluded Palantir Technologies Inc. from our investments due (to) its sales of products and services to Israel for use in occupied Palestinian territories."

The investor, which manages about 1 trillion crowns ($91.53 billion) in assets, held around 262 million crowns ($24 million) in Palantir, a spokesperson told Reuters. A representative for Palantir, based in Denver, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Storebrand said Palantir had not replied to any of its requests for information, first lodged in April. The data analytics firm, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, provides militaries with artificial-intelligence models. Earlier this year, it agreed to a strategic partnership to supply technology to Israel to assist in the ongoing war in Gaza.

Palantir has previously defended its work for Israel. CEO Alex Karp said he was proud to have worked with the country following the Hamas attacks in October last year and in March told CNBC that Palantir had lost employees and that he expected to lose more over his public support for Israel.

Storebrand's exit follows a recommendation from Norway's government in March warning businesses about engaging in economic or financial activity in the Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, the asset manager said in its third-quarter investment review published on Wednesday. The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest court, said in July that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories including the settlements was illegal.

Israel's foreign ministry rejected that opinion as "fundamentally wrong" and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can be reached only by negotiations.

Storebrand said its analysis indicated that Palantir provides products and services "including AI-based predictive policing systems" that support Israeli surveillance of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palantir's systems are supposed "to identify individuals who are likely to launch 'lone wolf terrorist' attacks, facilitating their arrests preemptively before the strikes that it is projected they would carry out," Storebrand said.

It added that, according to the United Nations, Israeli authorities have a history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. A UN Special Rapporteur said in a 2023 report that "the occupied Palestinian territory had been transformed as a whole into a constantly surveilled open-air prison."

Israel rejected the UN's findings. In September Reuters reported that Norway's $1.7 trillion wealth fund may have to divest shares of companies that violate the fund watchdog's tougher interpretation of ethics standards for businesses that aid Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.