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IRELAND’S SOVEREIGN WEALTH fund, the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), still has holdings in companies with links to Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory.
In 2024, then-Minister for Finance Michael McGrath announced that the fund had divested from five companies that are linked to settlement activity that is considered illegal under international law.
But the ISIF continues to invest in eight other companies named on a United Nations database - a key document that highlights businesses and parent companies whose subsidiaries enable the continued existence of Israeli settlements.
By the end of 2023, the total value of these investments was more than €10 million.
As part of a new investigation, The Journal Investigates looked at how much Ireland is investing in these companies and how they are linked to illegal settler activity in Palestine.
Many of these investments are in multinationals, but two in particular are in companies that hold contracts with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF): Delek Group and Motorola Solutions Inc.
The value of the ISIF’s investments in these two companies alone was almost €5 million -roughly the same amount as the State’s sovereign wealth fund invested in the other six companies combined.
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Out of the eight companies that the ISIF invests in, just one is based solely in Israel: Delek Group, the owner of a chain of petrol stations that was founded in the country in the early 1950s.
The ISIF’s investment in the company is indirect, which means that it did not directly buy shares or provide capital to Delek, but instead invested in it through an intermediary such as a fund or financial institution that handles investment decisions on Ireland’s behalf.
As of 2023, the State indirectly invested around €214,000 in Delek, which is best-known in Israel as the operator of a chain of filling stations and convenience stores.
A search of Google Maps shows that it operates a handful of these petrol stations in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
However, the company is also linked to the activities of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF): under a contract agreed in 2020, the IDF listed Delek as one of two companies whose petrol stations are allowed to be used by military vehicles to refuel.
Delek also reportedly holds other contracts with the Israeli defence industry, according to WhoProfits, an independent group dedicated to “exposing the role of the private sector in the Israeli occupation economy” through a database.
The database has been consulted by the international BDS movement, and WhoProfits has been repeatedly highlighted by the United Nations, including in a report last week by the current Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese.
The Journal Investigates contacted Delek Group for comment, but no response was received by the time of publication, and no other recent statements on the company’s position about its activities in occupied Palestinian territories could be found.
US-based technology firm Motorola Solutions and its subsidiary, Motorola Solutions Israel, are among just six companies that appear on the UN database for supplying security.
The Irish government holds millions in both direct and indirect investments in the parent company.
It should not be confused with the telecoms company of the same name, from whom it split in 2011, Motorola Solutions specialises in security products and systems such as video equipment and command centre technology.
It holds contracts worth hundreds of millions of Euro with Israel’s government and military, and its systems are used extensively throughout the occupied territories, along the separation wall in the West Bank, and at Israeli military bases.
The company provides everything from surveillance systems, radar detectors, and mobile communications systems to Israelis living in illegal settlements and the Israel Defence Forces.
In a 2012 UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Richard Falk, named Motorola Solutions Israel as “sustaining the settlements” and limiting “the Palestinians’ freedom of movement within their territory”.
Like Delek Group, the company’s activities have also been extensively detailed by WhoProfits.
Motorola Solutions has been named as “the sole supplier of the 4G cellular network for the Israeli military” as well as the sole supplier of Israeli military smartphones after it was given a contract worth $100 million to do so.
Human rights groups have also highlighted how the company’s MotoEagle Wide Area Surveillance System – which uses radars and cameras to detect movements - has been used as a “virtual fence system” in dozens of illegal settlements.
In addition, Motorola has longstanding contracts with the Israel Prison Service and the country’s Population and Immigration Authority – including communications equipment at prisons like Ofer in the West Bank, where Palestinians are held in military detention.
As of 2023, the Irish government directly invested around €700,000 and held €3.9 million worth of indirect investments in the company.
The Journal Investigates contacted Motorola Solutions for comment, but no response was received by the time of publication.
The company has previously told a number of outlets that it supports “efforts in the region to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict”.
Reporter: Stephen McDermott • Investigation Editor: Sinead O’Carroll • The Journal Investigates Editor: Maria Delaney • Social Media: Cliodhna Travers • Main Image Design: Lorcan O’Reilly
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