Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

Key Findings

• Political: In September 2020, ADIB and Israel’s Bank Leumi announced an exploratory memorandum of understanding for prospective banking cooperation in the UAE, Israel, and other markets, framed by ADIB as aligned with the commercial and economic objectives of the Abraham Accords.^{1, 2}

• Economic: The MoU contemplated cash management, trade finance, corporate accounts, and foreign-exchange services, but the reviewed record does not establish committed capital, implemented services, completed transactions, or a continuing relationship.^{1, 2}

• Settlements: Bank Leumi appears in the OHCHR settlement-business database, but the supplied review found no ADIB mention in that database and does not document ADIB settlement operations or services.^{3, 4}

• Not found: No public evidence identified of ADIB contracts or services for Israeli military, intelligence, security, settlement, or Israeli-origin surveillance-technology activities.^{5, 6, 7}

Target Profile

Key Facts:

• ADIB reported 61 UAE branches and overseas branches in Iraq, Qatar, and Sudan as at 31 December 2025; its reported group entities did not identify an Israeli branch or subsidiary.⁸
• The 2025 subsidiary disclosure includes entities in the UAE, Egypt, the United Kingdom, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Iraq, Qatar, Sudan, Bosnia, and Saudi Arabia, without identifying Israel or occupied territory as a disclosed group location.⁸

Executive Summary

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC is a UAE Islamic bank whose documented Israel/Palestine nexus is principally a September 2020 memorandum of understanding with Israel’s Bank Leumi. ADIB described the MoU as an exploration of future cooperation in the UAE, Israel, and other international markets, including cash management, trade finance, corporate accounts, and foreign-exchange services. ADIB expressly framed the arrangement as aligned with the commercial and economic objectives of the Abraham Accords.^{1, 2}

The record supports a limited finding: ADIB and Bank Leumi announced an exploratory banking-counterparty arrangement. It does not establish committed capital, implemented banking services, accounts opened, trade-finance facilities, completed transactions, revenue, end beneficiaries, settlement-enterprise activity, or any continuing correspondent relationship arising from the MoU. The reviewed sources also do not establish whether the MoU remained in force, expired, ended, or was implemented after its announcement.^{1, 2, 12}

The political vector is therefore the principal documented basis for this dossier’s score: a public, state-normalisation-related commercial framing and a proposed cross-market banking relationship with Bank Leumi. Bank Leumi’s own documented settlement links cannot be transposed to ADIB. The OHCHR settlement-business database lists Bank Leumi, while the supplied review found no ADIB mention; NGO reporting concerning Bank Leumi’s settlement financing and services is not evidence of ADIB conduct.^{3, 4, 13}

No public evidence identified of ADIB contracts, procurement, logistics, finance under a disclosed programme, technology deployment, or services for the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, intelligence agencies, prison or border-security bodies, settlements, checkpoints, detention facilities, or the separation barrier. No public evidence identified of Israeli-origin surveillance or biometric technology in ADIB’s disclosed technology stack, or of ADIB operations, branches, subsidiaries, or direct retail activity in Israel or occupied territory.^{5, 6, 7, 8}

Under the fixed, human-vetted V6.5 assessment, ADIB receives zero in Military, Digital, and Economic domains. Its documented political-normalisation nexus produces Political 2.83, yielding a BRS score of 236 and Tier D, Moderate Complicity. This classification reflects the bounded evidence record, including its limits and exculpatory findings; it is not a finding that ADIB implemented the proposed relationship or supported Israeli military or settlement activity.

Timeline of Relevant Events

Corporate Overview

ADIB is an Abu Dhabi-incorporated UAE public joint-stock Islamic bank. Its 2025 consolidated reporting describes a group comprising the Bank, head office, branches, and subsidiaries, and does not identify an external corporate parent.⁸ ADIB is listed as a locally licensed fully Islamic bank by the Central Bank of the UAE.²²

The direct-subsidiary disclosure includes ADIB–Egypt, Abu Dhabi Islamic Securities Company LLC (ADIB Securities), Burooj Properties LLC, MPM Properties LLC, ADIB Invest 1, Kawader Services LLC, ADIB (UK) Limited, ADIB Capital Ltd, and controlled special-purpose vehicles. The disclosed group structure covers banking and service-sector activities rather than manufacturing, defence-industrial, construction-equipment, or infrastructure-contracting operations.^{8, 9}

As at 31 December 2025, EIIC was ADIB’s largest disclosed direct shareholder at 39.40%. ADIB’s shareholder page does not establish EIIC as a majority parent or identify a verified current ultimate-beneficial-owner chain. A separate Q4 2025 investor presentation provided a different ownership-chart breakdown without explaining the difference from the registered-shareholder table.^{10, 23}

No Israeli-incorporated operating subsidiary, Israeli acquisition, Israeli branch, Israeli office, or disclosed Israel-based operating geography appears in the reviewed 2025 group reporting. This is a disclosure-scoped finding, not proof of registry-wide or database-wide absence of any possible relationship outside reported entities.⁸

The sole identified Israel-related arrangement is the 2020 Bank Leumi MoU. It was announced as an exploration of potential financial-services cooperation; the reviewed record contains announcements rather than the underlying signed instrument, annexes, implementation plan, or evidence of operational execution. No franchise relationship was identified.^{1, 2, 12}

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of an ADIB or consolidated-group contract, tender, framework agreement, memorandum, or procurement relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Israel Prison Service, Border Police, intelligence agencies, or another Israeli security body.^{5, 8, 24}

No public evidence identified that ADIB manufactures, markets, supplies, or finances under a disclosed programme tactical products, dual-use physical products, weapons, munitions, missile-defence systems, military platforms, targeting software, or critical weapons subsystems for Israeli end-users. ADIB’s reported activities are financial and service-sector activities, and its audited group disclosure identifies no manufacturing or defence-industrial subsidiary.^{5, 8, 9}

No public evidence identified of ADIB services supporting Israeli military logistics, defence cargo, bases, checkpoints, detention facilities, settlement construction, the separation barrier, demolitions, or military installations. No public evidence identified of export licences, sanctions, export-control actions, or proceedings tied to an ADIB Israeli-defence supply relationship.^{5, 24}

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

ADIB’s strongest defence is that its disclosed business is civilian banking, financing, investment, and associated services, not defence production or military logistics. The Bank Leumi MoU identifies prospective financial-services cooperation and no military end-user, defence procurement, weapons-related service, implementation activity, or security installation.¹⁵

The absence findings are based on reviewed corporate, UN, civil-society, and focused-search materials. They do not prove that no relationship exists outside the reported group or outside the materials reviewed. The document-scoped review found no ADIB mention in specified UN, OHCHR, PAX, and Al-Haq materials; that does not establish database-wide or sector-wide absence.^{24, 25, 26}

Named Entities and Evidence Map

• ADIB: Reported as a financial and service-sector group; no disclosed defence-industrial subsidiary.^{8, 9}
• Bank Leumi: Counterparty to an exploratory 2020 MoU; no defence or security end-user appears in ADIB’s disclosure.^{1, 15}
• Israeli security bodies: No public evidence identified of relevant ADIB contracts or services.⁵
• Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael, IMI/Elbit Land: No public evidence identified of component supply, co-production, technology transfer, licensed manufacturing, or programme-specific finance involving ADIB or reported subsidiaries.⁵

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

ADIB reported a technology stack involving Microsoft Azure, Cloud4C, Cloudera Public Cloud on Azure, SWIFT Alliance Cloud with ProgressSoft, Silent Eight compliance-alert screening, du, Astra Tech/Botim, and e& enterprise’s UAE Trade Connect platform.^{14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 27}

No public evidence identified of ADIB licensing, subscribing to, or integrating a verified Israeli-origin cybersecurity or enterprise vendor. No public evidence identified that Israeli-origin surveillance, biometric, facial-recognition, predictive-policing, social-media-monitoring, or workforce-surveillance technology reaches ADIB through its disclosed relationships.^{6, 27}

ADIB reported using Silent Eight AI/ML for automated compliance-alert investigations and described Azure-related analytics and machine-learning investment for banking and customer decision-making. Neither disclosure identifies Israeli training data, Israeli public bodies, occupied-territory deployment, or provision to Israeli state, military, or security bodies.^{16, 27}

No public evidence identified that ADIB operates, leases, or co-locates data-centre infrastructure in Israel; participates in Project Nimbus; or provides sovereign-cloud, data-residency, resilience, or digital services to Israeli state or military bodies.⁶

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The documented digital activities are banking technology and compliance infrastructure, not a stated surveillance, intelligence, military, or security deployment. The 2020 Bank Leumi MoU establishes a banking-counterparty relationship, not an Israeli-origin digital-technology relationship.^{1, 2}

The reviewed disclosures do not specify Azure-region selection, data residency, routing, subcontractors, legal-access architecture, or every vendor in ADIB’s infrastructure. Accordingly, the evidence does not establish a complete technical supply-chain map; it supports only that no verified Israeli-origin or Israeli state/security digital nexus was identified in the reviewed material.^{6, 16}

Named Entities and Evidence Map

• Microsoft Azure / Cloud4C / Cloudera: Disclosed cloud and data-platform relationships; reviewed materials do not identify Israel as a storage, routing, processing, or legal-access location.^{16, 28}
• Silent Eight: AI/ML compliance-alert screening partner; no Israeli deployment or data relationship identified.²⁷
• ProgressSoft: Partner for SWIFT Alliance Cloud-related financial messaging and payment processing; no Israeli nexus identified.²⁰
• Bank Leumi: MoU counterparty for prospective banking services, not a documented technology provider.^{1, 2}

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

ADIB publicly offers global transaction-banking and trade-finance solutions. Its published documentary-credit and guarantee/standby-letter-of-credit terms require applicants to certify that a letter of credit or facility does not contravene regulations issued by the Israel Boycott Office.^{29, 30, 31}

These clauses document published compliance terms, not a confirmed Israeli transaction, counterparty, facility issuance, refusal, volume, beneficiary, or date of application. The reviewed terms do not establish whether the conditions were applied after 19 July 2024 or November 2024.^{29, 30}

The 2020 Bank Leumi MoU contemplated prospective cash-management, trade-finance, corporate-account, and foreign-exchange support for organisations in the UAE and Israel. It does not disclose binding obligations, committed capital, lending amounts, opened accounts, fees, executed transactions, duration, exclusivity, named customers, or actual beneficiaries.^{1, 2}

No public evidence identified of a downstream MoU-generated transaction, capital deployment, credit facility, trade-finance drawdown, revenue, Israeli operating investment, settlement-enterprise activity, underwriting of Israeli sovereign debt or Israel Bonds, or disclosed facility to an Israeli defence prime or OHCHR-listed company.¹²

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is that the MoU was exploratory, with no identified evidence of execution, renewal, termination, expiry, continuing correspondent banking, or downstream transaction. Absence of a later identified disclosure does not verify cessation, expiry, or termination; it also does not establish that ADIB had no relationship with Bank Leumi outside reviewed disclosures.¹²

ADIB’s 2025 financial reporting presents investment geography in aggregate categories and does not separately identify Israel. It also lacks counterparty-level schedules that could confirm or exclude Israeli securities, loans, correspondent banking, trade finance, or fund holdings. Therefore, Israel-specific exposure cannot be inferred from aggregate categories, but neither can it be categorically excluded.⁸

Named Entities and Evidence Map

• Bank Leumi: Exploratory MoU counterparty; proposed services were banking-related and no completed economic outcome was documented.^{1, 2}
• Israel Boycott Office: Referenced in ADIB’s published trade-finance terms; the clauses are not evidence of a specific transaction or refusal.^{29, 30}
• Israeli sovereign debt, Israel Bonds, defence primes, OHCHR-listed companies: No public evidence identified of ADIB underwriting, lead arranging, or a disclosed facility.¹²
• ADIB disclosed operating geography: UAE, Iraq, Qatar, Sudan, Egypt, United Kingdom, and other disclosed group locations; no Israeli or occupied-territory operating location identified.⁸

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

ADIB’s September 2020 announcement of an MoU with Bank Leumi is the central documented political nexus. ADIB stated that the banks would explore cooperation in the UAE, Israel, and other international markets, and described the MoU as aligned with the commercial and economic objectives of the Abraham Accords.^{1, 2}

The MoU contemplated possible cash management, trade finance, corporate accounts, and foreign-exchange services for UAE and Israeli organisations. It was signed for ADIB by then Vice Chairman Khamis Buharoon and for Bank Leumi by then president and CEO Hanan Friedman.^{1, 2}

Bank Leumi is listed in the 2023 OHCHR settlement-business database under activity codes “(e), (f), (g).” The supplied record also includes NGO reporting on Bank Leumi’s historical and current alleged settlement-linked financing and services. These materials concern Bank Leumi, not ADIB, and no underlying contract or tender for the reported 2024 Blue Line financing was retrieved in the supplied record.^{3, 4, 13}

No public evidence identified of ADIB corporate lobbying, PAC activity, political contributions, donations to the IDF, Friends of the IDF, Jewish National Fund, settlement organisations, military-welfare bodies, or conflict-period asset mobilisation.³²

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

ADIB’s strongest defence is that the arrangement was an exploratory commercial MoU framed around normalisation-era economic cooperation, rather than a defence, military, settlement, or state-security partnership. The documents do not establish implementation, continuing operations, committed finance, completed transactions, or a direct ADIB role in Bank Leumi’s settlement-linked activities.^{1, 2, 12}

No public evidence identified of an ADIB branch, subsidiary, direct service contract, equipment, or retail operation in Israeli settlements, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, or the Golan Heights. The review found no ADIB mention in the 2023 OHCHR database, the 2025 OHCHR update, or UN Human Rights Council report A/HRC/59/23. These are document-scoped findings, not proof that no wider commercial relationship exists.^{3, 24, 33}

No public evidence identified of a later ADIB statement on Gaza, Palestinian civilian harm, the October 2023 escalation, the July 2024 ICJ advisory opinion, or the November 2024 ICC arrest warrants.³²

Named Entities and Evidence Map

• ADIB / Bank Leumi: Parties to the announced 2020 exploratory MoU.^{1, 2}
• Abraham Accords: ADIB’s announced political-commercial framing for the prospective cooperation.¹
• Bank Leumi: Listed in the OHCHR settlement-business database; this listing is not evidence that ADIB operated in settlements.^{3, 4}
• ADIB leadership: UAE-linked external public-sector roles of some directors do not themselves evidence Israel-related state-partnership activity.⁹
• ADIB customer donation facility: ADIB reported customer-facilitated donations to UAE-licensed charities in 2025; this was not identified as an ADIB corporate donation and no Israel- or Palestine-specific recipient was named.³⁴

BDS-1000 Score

Method: V6.5.

• V_MAX: 2.83 Avg_OTHERS: 0.00
• BRS Score: 236 Tier: D (Moderate Complicity)

V_MAX is driven solely by the political domain: ADIB’s public normalisation-era MoU with Bank Leumi and its Abraham Accords framing. The other domains are zero because the reviewed record did not verify military, digital, or completed economic involvement. The V6.5 method is scale-free, evidence-only, and human-vetted; it does not convert unverified, transitive, or merely alleged links into established conduct.

Methodology Note

• This dossier is limited to evidence and caveats established in the four supplied domain audits.
• Scores are evidence-only and scale-free: Impact concerns activity type, M concerns scale, and P concerns directness.
• Exploratory arrangements are distinguished from implemented contracts, transactions, investments, or services.
• Divested or exited operations mitigate scoring where supported by evidence; no such ADIB divestment or exit was established in the reviewed record.
• Entity attribution is not transitive: Bank Leumi’s settlement-related record is not treated as ADIB conduct merely because the banks announced an exploratory MoU.
• A verified settlement operation would be relevant to both Economic and Political, but no such ADIB operation was identified. “No public evidence identified” is used where the audits’ checks found nothing, and is not a claim of universal absence.