Military Audit: Barclays

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

No public evidence identified of a direct contract, tender award, framework agreement, or MOU between Barclays and Israel’s Ministry of Defence, IDF, Israel Prison Service, or Israel Border Police for equipment supply, services, maintenance, or consulting. No public evidence identified of Barclays appearing in SIBAT’s Defense and HLS Directory or other Israeli defence-export/procurement registries, consistent with Barclays’ status as a financial institution rather than a defence-industry supplier. Barclays has instead acted as one of a small syndicate of international primary dealers/underwriters for Israeli government bonds, alongside Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and (until March 2024) BNP Paribas ¹². As of a May 2021 review, Barclays had led or co-led underwriting of roughly $5 billion of a cited $13 billion total across fifteen recent Israeli government bond deals ³. Barclays participated in two Israeli government bond issuances after 7 October 2023 - $278 million in November 2023 and $223 million in January 2024 ¹². Research published 14 February 2025 by Profundo/BankTrack/PAX found that Barclays has not publicly underwritten any Israeli government bond since January 2024 ¹. Barclays briefly signalled in August 2024 that it would withdraw from Israeli bond auctions amid activist pressure, then reversed course days later and reaffirmed its role as underwriter ⁴⁵⁶⁷. Israel’s Accountant General publicly thanked Barclays in August 2024 for “resisting antisemitic and anti-Israel pressures, particularly those promoted by BDS movements” ⁶⁷. Novara Media reported in June 2026 that Barclays’ own website FAQ still describes the bank as part of the underwriting syndicate even though data indicate it has exited public syndicated underwriting since January 2024, that Barclays declined to comment on the discrepancy, and that it reportedly continues purchasing Israeli bonds through automated domestic auctions rather than syndicated deals ². Barclays operates a dedicated “Barclays Israel” entity; Leonard (Len) Rosen served as its CEO from October 2008, crediting himself with raising over $100 billion in financing for Israel and Israeli companies including the sovereign, Israel Electric Corporation, and the Israeli natural gas sector, before later moving to Evercore ⁸⁹. Barclays subsequently promoted Ilan Paz to lead its Israel activity, per a 2019-dated announcement ¹⁰. Barclays has also run a Tel Aviv-based startup accelerator programme, illustrating a broader commercial footprint in Israel’s economy beyond sovereign bond underwriting ¹¹. Separate NGO reporting has characterized Barclays as having “increased financing” of Israel-linked arms firms during this period ¹²¹³¹⁴.

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

No public evidence identified. Barclays is a bank; it does not manufacture or market products, ruggedised/tactical/mil-spec variants, or dual-use goods. No public evidence identified of Barclays being named in any export licence application or end-user certificate, which is not applicable to a financial-services provider. Barclays-financed portfolio companies - notably QinetiQ and Rolls-Royce - separately hold documented UK export licences for military-relevant goods to Israel, discussed further under Supply Chain Integration below ¹⁵¹⁶.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

No public evidence identified that Barclays itself owns, sells, or deploys heavy machinery, vehicles, or construction equipment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Barclays is, however, documented as a major creditor - through shareholdings, loans and underwriting - to Caterpillar Inc., whose D9 armoured bulldozers are used by the Israeli military for home demolitions and settlement/infrastructure construction in the West Bank and Gaza ¹⁷¹⁸. War on Want’s PSC-partnered research valued Barclays’ Caterpillar-linked shareholding at $387.4 million ¹⁹²⁰. This relationship is financial rather than commercial: Barclays is not identified in the underlying reporting as a dealer, distributor, or reseller of Caterpillar equipment, and its exposure is distinct from Caterpillar’s own direct or indirect sales relationships to the Israeli military ¹⁷. No public evidence identified of Barclays holding a direct construction, maintenance, or expansion contract for checkpoints, detention facilities, the separation barrier, or settlement infrastructure.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

Barclays’ documented links to Israeli and Israel-supplying defence primes are financial-services relationships - shareholder, lender, bond underwriter - rather than physical component supply ²⁰²¹. Regulatory filings showed Barclays held 16,345 shares of Elbit Systems Ltd, worth over $3.4 million, as of a filing dated 15 May 2024; by the next filing, reported 31 October 2024, Barclays’ holding was reported as zero shares ^{22232425262728}. The sell-down followed an eleven-month, 54-action direct-action campaign by Palestine Action, which peaked on 10 June 2024 with coordinated attacks on roughly twenty branches ²⁹³⁰³¹. Barclays disputed the “divestment” framing, stating it “trades in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand” and “is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in Elbit Systems in that sense” ³²²². PSC, CAAT and War on Want reported in May 2024 (updating a July 2022 predecessor report) that Barclays held over $2.5 billion in shares/bonds and provided over $7.6 billion in loans and underwriting - a 54.5–55% increase since 2021/2022 - to nine companies: BAE Systems, Boeing, Caterpillar, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, QinetiQ, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce and Ultra Electronics, whose weapons, components and military technology are used by Israel ^{20333417191314}. Individual holdings cited within that figure include BAE Systems ($1.3 billion), Boeing ($458.7 million) and Caterpillar ($387.4 million) ¹⁹. War on Want’s own June 2024 release separately cited £2 billion in shares and £6.1 billion in loans and underwriting to the same nine-company portfolio - a figure differing from the PSC/CAAT $2.5bn/$7.6bn figure, likely reflecting different reporting dates and currency conversions within the same year ¹⁷²⁰. Of the financed primes: BAE Systems manufactures the F-35 rear fuselage and Active Interceptor System at Samlesbury and Kent, with UK-sourced BAE content estimated at roughly 15% of F-35 components within a cited $6.7 billion UK role in the programme supplying Israel’s F-35 fleet since 2016 ³⁵. QinetiQ was part of the UK industrial team on the Watchkeeper drone, built on Elbit’s Hermes 450 airframe via the Thales/Elbit UAV Tactical Systems joint venture in Leicester, and received eight UK export licences to Israel between 2008 and 2021, including a December 2022 licence for military guidance/navigation equipment, with a further application pending as of April 2024 ¹⁵³⁶. Raytheon (RTX) co-produces the Iron Dome “Tamir” interceptor with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems at a joint US facility established via an August 2020 agreement, with production in Tucson, Arizona and Huntsville, Alabama, and also partners with Rafael on David’s Sling ³⁷³⁸. General Dynamics is the sole US manufacturer of 155mm artillery shells and MK-80-series bomb bodies used extensively by Israel in Gaza, and a Canadian General Dynamics subsidiary’s propellant contract was amended in 2024 to include Israel as a recipient ¹⁸³⁹. Rolls-Royce holds UK export licences for military aircraft engines to Israel dating from 2014 and supplies engine technology within the F-35 programme ¹⁶. Boeing supplies F-15 and Apache platforms to Israel, which announced plans in May 2026 to purchase further F-35 and F-15 warplanes ¹⁸⁴⁰. No public evidence identified of Barclays itself being party to any joint development, co-production, or technology-transfer agreement with an Israeli defence firm.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of Barclays providing catering, transport, fuel, waste management, facilities maintenance, telecommunications, or other direct support services to IDF bases, training facilities, detention centres, or security installations in the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the Negev, or elsewhere. No public evidence identified of Barclays providing shipping, freight-forwarding, or port-handling services to Israeli military cargo or arms shipments, which is not applicable to Barclays’ business model as a bank.

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence identified of Barclays acting as a prime contractor, licensed manufacturer, or direct supplier of lethal platforms, munitions, propellants, warhead components, or strategic-system sub-systems to Israeli forces. Barclays’ documented role with respect to such systems is exclusively financial - as shareholder, lender or underwriter - to companies that do manufacture them, including Raytheon/Rafael’s Iron Dome interceptor programme, General Dynamics’ 155mm shells and bomb bodies, BAE Systems’ and Rolls-Royce’s F-35 components, and QinetiQ’s role on the Watchkeeper drone ^{37381839351615}.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

No public evidence identified of any export-licence decision - grant, deny, suspend, or revoke - directly concerning Barclays, which is not applicable given that Barclays does not export controlled goods. BankTrack, Worth Rises, and the Coalition for Immigrant Freedom filed a specific-instance complaint with the UK and Swiss National Contact Points on 16 January 2024 alleging that Barclays, together with HSBC, UBS, and the Swiss National Bank, failed to conduct adequate human-rights due diligence regarding investments in CoreCivic and GEO Group, US private-prison operators alleged to use forced immigration-detention labour ⁴¹⁴². The complaint stated Barclays held 304,539 CoreCivic shares and 70,500 GEO Group shares as of 30 June 2023; the UK NCP accepted the complaint for further examination on 25 July 2025, explicitly stating this is “not a finding against Barclays,” and proceeded to mediation ⁴¹. This complaint concerns US private-prison/detention financing rather than Israel/OPT specifically, but it demonstrates an active OECD NCP due-diligence process running against Barclays’ defence/security-adjacent portfolio ⁴¹⁴². Barclays Israel has separately faced domestic regulatory scrutiny, having been reported as “again questioned on tax evasion” by Israeli business outlet Globes ⁴³. No public evidence identified of court proceedings or judicial review specifically challenging Barclays’ Israel-related defence financing, as distinct from NGO advocacy campaigns and the OECD NCP complaint above.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Campaign Against Arms Trade, and War on Want published “Barclays: Arming Israel’s Apartheid and Genocide” in May 2024, updating a July 2022 predecessor report, “Barclays Bank: Arming Apartheid” ²⁰³³⁴⁴. The Don’t Buy Into Occupation coalition (FIDH and partners) found in December 2023 that Barclays provided $10.63 billion in loans and underwriting between January 2020 and August 2023 to European-listed companies active in West Bank settlements, ranking it the sixth-largest European creditor in this category ⁴⁵¹⁷. A November 2024 DBIO update, covering January 2021–August 2024 and surveying 822 European financial institutions and 58 settlement-linked companies with $211 billion in loans/underwriting and $182 billion in shares/bonds group-wide, again named Barclays among the top-five largest European creditors by lending/underwriting volume, alongside BNP Paribas, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale ⁴⁶⁴⁷. BankTrack reported in 2021 that Barclays had underwritten bonds for the Israel Electric Corporation, which supplies electricity and infrastructure to Israeli settlements, and served as a “key provider of financial services to Israeli banks” separately listed in the UN settlement-business database, and has continued tracking Barclays’ Israeli-bond underwriting role and OECD NCP complaint status across subsequent reporting ³²⁶¹⁴⁷. AFSC Investigate’s company profile tracks Barclays’ private-prison financing across a 2013–2022 timeline and cites an earlier 2022 figure of over $1.2 billion in shares and over $3.6 billion in loans and underwriting to the same nine defence companies - a smaller figure than PSC’s May 2024 $2.5bn/$7.6bn figures, consistent with the reported 55% increase ²¹. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s company tracker logs a 77% response rate from Barclays across 21 allegation/response requests, including Israel/OPT settlement-finance allegations, and links Barclays to the UN Special Rapporteur’s “economy of genocide” reporting frame ⁴⁸⁴⁹. The OHCHR maintains a Database of Business Enterprises pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 31/36 and 53/25, most recently updated in September 2025 to list 158 enterprises predominantly Israeli-domiciled with entities also based in Canada, China, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the US ⁵⁰⁵¹. Palestine Action mounted a sustained direct-action campaign against Barclays from October 2023, comprising 54 actions against Barclays premises and peaking on 10 June 2024 with coordinated overnight vandalism at roughly twenty branches nationwide, with police estimating damage of £250,000–£500,000 per wave and many branches closed for weeks ²⁹³⁰³¹. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign ran a parallel “Boycott Barclays” campaign and shareholder-facing pressure, with AGMs disrupted in Glasgow on 9 May 2024 and in Westminster in 2025 ⁵²⁵³. Barclays reported a full sell-down of its Elbit Systems shareholding, from 16,345 shares to zero, by the 31 October 2024 filing date, though it disputed the “divestment” characterization of that outcome ²²³². Barclays maintains standing public FAQ/statement pages - “How Barclays supports the defence sector” and “Is it true that Barclays funds the State of Israel?” - asserting it does not invest its own capital in these companies but trades or holds positions on behalf of clients ⁵⁴⁵⁵. War on Want published a formal rebuttal, “Complicit Barclays is spinning misleading narratives,” in July 2024, disputing Barclays’ characterization of its defence-sector role as limited to “benign” projects ⁵⁶. The Quaker Peace & Social Witness wrote to Barclays’ Group Chairman on 9 May 2024 raising concerns about the bank’s Israel-linked defence financing ⁵⁷. Barclays’ Group Chief Executive, C.S. Venkatakrishnan, is named on the bank’s official leadership page as the executive with ultimate responsibility for the bank’s strategy and its public defence of Israel-related financing activity ⁵⁸.

End Notes