Western banks and insurers are financing Israel’s war in Gaza. This is how.

Israeli government bonds have become crucial to funding the country’s war in Gaza. Germany’s Allianz, along with major European banks including Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, are investing in or supporting these bonds — prompting concerns about potential violations of human rights guidelines for multinational companies.

An investigation by the Netherlands-based financial research group Profundo, published by Dutch NGOs BankTrack and PAX, has revealed that a small group of investment banks has played a pivotal role in helping Israel meet the “significant funding needs” stemming from its war on Gaza, by providing extensive underwriting services to the Israeli government.

These companies may have violated corporate human rights guidelines by buying or brokering Israeli government bonds as the country wages war in Gaza, experts warn. Days after the 7 October 2023 Hamas terror attacks that triggered the now two-year war in Gaza, an Israeli bond campaign was launched to raise funds for the country.

^{Israel Bonds – a government-affiliated company – markets the bonds with the slogan “Israel is at War: We stand with Israel”.}

The number of bonds that have been issued and sold have soared over the last two years, drawing criticism from civil society groups, lawmakers in EU nations and the leading U.N. expert on Palestinian rights as Israel’s war in Gaza has escalated.

Allianz stands out as the largest buyer, having acquired $960 million in Israeli government bonds through its U.S.-based investment management subsidiary, PIMCO, according to an analysis by the Netherlands-based financial research group Profundo.

^{List of largest private investors in bonds issued by Israel since October 7th, 2023. January 2025 most recent filings. Photo: Profundo}

But investors like Allianz are not the only ones contributing to Israel’s wartime financing. Profundo’s research found that seven major banks have acted as intermediaries, underwriting Israeli government bonds. Between October 7, 2023, and January 2024, the total value of these bond issuances reached $19.4 billion.

These underwriters include four major U.S. institutions — Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and others — alongside three European banks: Germany’s Deutsche Bank, France’s BNP Paribas, and the U.K.’s Barclays.

^{List of Israeli bond underwriters, October 7th, 2023 – January 2025. Photo: Profundo}

“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.”
– Max Hammer, Human Rights Campaigner at BankTrack

According to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct, financial institutions — like all companies — have a duty to avoid contributing to adverse human rights impacts, for instance by facilitating or incentivising business relationships that cause harm. The OECD’s Guidance on Due Diligence for Responsible Corporate Lending and Securities Underwriting further specifies that financial institutions may be considered complicit in human rights abuses if, through bond underwriting, they enable an issuer to engage in such violations.

As Israel’s war on Gaza grinds on, the flow of capital from global financial giants makes them complicit in sustaining a conflict that continues to devastate civilian lives. Each bond underwritten, each dollar invested, strengthens a machinery that continues to produce devastation on the ground.

Under international human rights standards, no institution can claim neutrality when its financial decisions enable the continuation of mass suffering. The responsibility does not end at the trading desk or the boardroom. It extends to every investor, every banker, and every regulator who has the power to say no — but chooses profit over principle.

History will remember not only those who dropped the bombs, but also those who bankrolled them.