Seven US and European investment banks have been propping up Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza to the tune of nearly $20bn. And a certain notorious company in particular is dripping in bankrolling complicity: Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs: propping up Israel’s genocide in Gaza
A new investigation has revealed the scale of seven financial institutions role financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Netherlands-based financial research group Profundo conducted the vital new research, with Dutch NGOs BankTrack and PAX have publishing its critical findings.
Significantly, the groups have uncovered that a small number of investment banks have played a crucial role in helping Israel meet the “significant funding needs” for its genocidal assault on Gaza. Together, seven investment banks underwrote $19.4bn in bonds for the Israeli state between 7 October 2023, and January 2025.
Topping the table for the biggest issuer of bonds is infamously immoral US investment bank Goldman Sachs. Alone, the company has underwritten more than $7bn in Israeli military bonds. Therefore, it has issued 37% of the $19.4bn the seven Western investment banks have collectively underwritten.
The other complicit corporations the investigation identified were: Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Citi, Barclays, and JPMorgan Chase.
US companies together underwrote nearly three-quarters of these bonds since Israel began the genocide.
‘War bonds’ for Israel’s war criminal atrocities and genocide
Israel has ramped up its issuance of sovereign bonds significantly since 7 October 2023. The war crime and genocide-mongering state has ballooned its military budget to carry out its atrocities that have displaced almost the entire population of Gaza, and brutally massacred at least 46,000 Palestinians.
Israel’s sovereign debt is generally added to the overall state budget. However, reports confirm that it issued more recent bonds to cover the costs of its full-scale assault on Gaza. In February 2024, Ministry of Finance officials confirmed the country would need to sell “near-record amount of bonds” in 2024 to continue financing it.
Israel Bonds is the government-affiliated body responsible for marketing Israel’s bonds to international investors. It specifically advertises these bonds as opportunities to support “Israel at War”. By underwriting and bringing Israel’s so-called “war bonds” to market, the seven banks identified in Profundo’s investigation therefore facilitated crucial financing enabling Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza.
Asset managers investing in Israel’s ethnic cleansing operations
Profundo’s investigation also identified the asset managers who have purchased Israeli government bonds since 7 October.
These asset managers purchase bonds for their own funds as well as for their clients. Among these are pension funds and insurance companies. The findings indicate that the 20 largest institutional investors – largely US asset managers and asset management arms of US banks and insurance companies – have provided more than $2.7bn in financing to Israel through bond purchases since the start of the genocide.
The largest investor is PIMCO, the US subsidiary of German financial services company Allianz. Alone, it purchased almost $1bn in Israeli “war bonds”.
A ‘long history of corporate complicity’ – not least Goldman Sachs
Human Rights Campaigner at BankTrack Max Hammer said:
Israel’s war on Gaza has created one of the largest humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century. By underwriting bonds which the Israeli state specifically issued to continue its genocidal war effort, banks risked making themselves complicit in these atrocities. Any financial institution or investor which helped Israel raise money for its military campaign must take urgent action to end and provide remedy for its contributions to widespread violations of international humanitarian law.
Project Lead Israel-Palestine at PAX Thomas Van Gool said:
Banks and asset managers’ investment in and underwriting of Israeli “war bonds” reflects a long history of corporate complicity in Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law. Now that a fragile ceasefire has come into effect, financial institutions and businesses must take immediate action to redress their direct links to these violations. Beyond providing remedy for financially enabling atrocities in Gaza, this must involve an urgent review of all financial relationships with the Israeli state, its military oppression of Palestinians in Gaza, and its regimes of apartheid and occupation in the West Bank.
Featured image via the Canary
