Irish sovereign wealth fund stops investing in two more companies linked to Israeli settlements

Defence affairs - journal analysis

IRELAND’S SOVEREIGN WEALTH fund has quietly divested shareholdings worth over €1 million from two accommodation companies linked to activities in occupied Palestinian territory.

However, the fund has also seen the value of its direct shareholdings in four other companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements – Airbnb, Alstom, Booking Holdings and Motorola Solutions – increase from €2.1 million in 2023 to €5.3 million last year.

The latest annual report from the National Treasury Management Agency shows that the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) no longer invested in Expedia Group and Tripadvisor in 2024, as it did the previous year.

The two companies are listed on a United Nations database that names businesses and parent companies that enable the continued existence of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

Both are US-owned accommodation booking platforms which The Journal Investigates found had featured dozens of listings based in settlements in the West Bank, parts of occupied East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.

The NTMA’s 2023 report showed that the ISIF’s direct shareholdings in the two companies were worth over €1.3 million.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe revealed in a Parliamentary Question response in April that the State also indirectly invested around €985,000 in Expedia Group the same year.

The 2024 NTMA report shows the fund no longer directly invests in either Expedia Group or Tripadvisor, though it is not yet clear whether indirect investments in either company are held.

Last year, the government publicly announced that it had divested €2.95 million worth of shares from six other Israeli companies, whose names likewise do not feature in the 2024 NTMA report.

They include five Israeli banks – Bank Hapoalim BM; Bank Leumi-le Israel BM; Israel Discount Bank; Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd; First International Bank – and an Israeli chain store, Rami Levi CN Stores. 

The NTMA report also showed that the State continued to directly invest in four companies that are named on the UN watchlist in 2024, increasing the value of its shares in each of them compared to 2023.

They include accommodation platform Airbnb, whose listings also include properties that are based in settlements in the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Last year, the value of the ISIF’s direct shares in the company were worth €440,000, up from €310,000 in 2023.

Airbnb has previously said it donates all profits from listings in the occupied West Bank to “non-profit organisations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world”.

The ISIF also continued to invest in French rail multinational Alstom, whose subsidiary Bombardier Transportation supplied vehicles on the Tel Aviv to Jerusalem train line, which passes through parts of the occupied West Bank.

Direct holdings in the company rose to €1.53 million in 2024, an increase on the €210,000 shareholding it held in 2023.

A spokesperson for Alstom told previously The Journal that the company does not have any activity within or related to occupied Palestinian territories, and that the company has requested removal from the UN database when it is next updated.