Financial products and managed investment schemes must disclose information on their holdings to the Disclose Register as per the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013¹⁾. These public disclosures can be searched²⁾ to find investment products offered by KiwiSaver providers. Using the Disclose Register's API, the data can be directly accessed and quickly analysed to show funds' investments in Israel.

An analysis of the 31/03/2024 disclosures for the KiwiSaver funds with the most members³⁾, as well as five self-described ethical investment funds⁴⁾, was conducted by Stop Arming Israel Aotearoa.



Of the funds analysed, Westpac was the only provider investing in Bank Hapoalim BM, Bank Leumi Le Israel BM, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, and Israel Discount Bank, four Israeli banks included on a February 2020 list of companies conducting business in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory from the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner⁵⁾. (Update Oct 2024: Following the publishing of Stop Arming Israel's research, Westpac have stated that they have since divested from the Israeli banks.) The NZ Super Fund divested from those banks in 2021, citing the “human rights abuses caused by the construction of those (Occupied Palestinian Territory) settlements” ⁶⁾. More countries continue to divest from Israeli banks and companies, with Ireland's sovereign investment fund being one of the most recent in April 2024⁷⁾.

Eight of the funds analysed had investments in Israel Government bonds. These bonds have been made available to international investors to help fund Israel's war efforts. Recent bond releases promise a higher yield versus US Treasury yields to make them more attractive to investors. A Financial Times analysis⁸⁾ included the following:

Investors and analysts noted that the bumper issuance was done through private placements rather than via open syndications and roadshows, which are usually carried out when new bonds are launched. The reason for this, they said, could be to raise funds for the war effort quickly or without attracting unwanted attention, and could be a sign of how nervous some investors had grown about buying Israel’s debt.

A February 2024 Bloomberg article⁹⁾ highlights Israel's deteriorating economic position due to the war and the use of bonds to attempt to recover:

Israel will have to sell a near-record amount of bonds this year to fund its war against Hamas, according to several finance ministry officials with knowledge of the matter. The task got more complicated on Friday, when Israel’s credit rating was downgraded for the first time ever.

KiwiSaver members who have money with a fund that invests in Israeli bonds are effectively lending money to the Israeli government¹⁰⁾.

Other key Israeli companies invested in by these funds are:

• NICE Ltd, a global software and artificial intelligence company. It was formed by members of Unit 8200¹¹⁾, Israel’s cyber spy unit, tasked with spying on Palestinians living under Israeli apartheid¹²⁾¹³⁾. NICE Ltd made hundreds of millions of dollars with their technology before selling the surveillance and intelligence divisions in 2015 (including a $158 million sale to Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons company¹⁴⁾) to pivot to their current CRM software operations¹⁵⁾.
• Israel Chemicals Ltd, a chemical manufacturer who provides white phosphorous to the US military for use in projectiles¹⁶⁾. These weapons are then provided to the Israeli army¹⁷⁾ who used it on civilians in Lebanon in October 2023¹⁸⁾¹⁹⁾. Update July 2024: Simplicity have clarified that as of May 2024 they no longer invest in ICL Group and these changes will be reflected in their September 2024 public filings. They did not address their other Israeli investments.