Economic Audit: Cloudflare

Supply Chain & Sourcing Relationships

Cloudflare’s business is internet infrastructure and cybersecurity services, not the sourcing or distribution of physical goods, and no relationship was identified between Cloudflare and agricultural aggregators/exporters such as Mehadrin, Hadiklaim, Galilee Export, or Agrexco successors, based on review of the company’s Form 10-K, NGO investigations, and trade press ¹. No public evidence identified of Cloudflare acting as an importer of record for any goods. No public evidence identified of seasonal sourcing arrangements tied to Israeli or settlement-based suppliers. No public evidence identified of third-party or indirect sourcing relationships (e.g., through resellers or franchisees) connecting Cloudflare to Israeli or settlement-based supply chains.

Product Origin, Labeling & Regulatory Compliance

Cloudflare does not manufacture or sell physical goods, so conventional country-of-origin labeling and DEFRA/customs settlement-origin findings do not apply, and No public evidence identified of any Cloudflare policy on goods or settlement-origin labeling ¹. As of the September 2025 OHCHR database update, No public evidence identified of Cloudflare, its parent, subsidiaries, or named controlling principals appearing in the UN Human Rights Office’s database of businesses involved in Israeli settlements ². Direct searches of whoprofits.org and the Don’t Buy Into Occupation (DBIO) Coalition’s 2024 report for “Cloudflare” returned no indexed results, though the DBIO report’s company-list annex could not be directly retrieved and reviewed to confirm this absence ³.

A service-level “labeling” adjacent finding was identified in the compliance domain: DAWN documented that Cloudflare’s nameservers provide DNS service to four websites tied to Benzion Gopstein, a U.S.-sanctioned Israeli extremist (sanctioned April 19, 2024) and leader of Lehava (sanctioned July 11, 2024) - the official Jewish Power party site (ozma-yeudit.co.il, led by Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir), the Lehava organization site (leava.co.il), and two sites (rabbikahane.org, rabbikahane.co.il) dedicated to Meir Kahane, a U.S.-designated terrorist, one of which conducts e-commerce transactions via U.S. credit-card processors ⁴. DAWN submitted this evidence to the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Justice on September 3, 2024, calling for domain seizure under Executive Order 14115 ⁴. This relationship was confirmed active as of the DAWN publication date, which falls within the constructive-notice window following the July 19, 2024 ICJ advisory opinion; no subsequent evidence identified of Cloudflare terminating service or the U.S. government seizing the domains, leaving the current status unconfirmed ⁴. DAWN’s report characterizes Jewish Power and Lehava as political/activist organizations associated with West Bank settler activity but does not itself allege the websites constitute settlement-located commercial infrastructure - the documented nexus is a U.S. sanctions/DNS-jurisdiction issue rather than a settlement-geography operation ⁴. No further public evidence identified of Cloudflare resellers, franchisees, or authorized partners operating within West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Golan Heights settlements.

Investment, Capital & Financial Exposure

Cloudflare operates a data center (“point of presence”) in Tel Aviv, live since March 15, 2018, described as its 135th global data center and part of its edge network rather than a dedicated real-estate or logistics FDI project, with no financial value disclosed ⁵. A claim referencing an Israel-based R&D-center expansion tied to a meeting between CEO Matthew Prince and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could not be corroborated by any primary source and is flagged as unverified. The only corroborated 2024 Middle East investment news is a new Dubai Internet City office in the UAE - not Israel - led by Bashar Bashaireh, Head of Middle East Sales, announced March 8, 2024, and framed as building on a “nearly decade-long” regional commitment dating to early 2015 ⁶⁷⁸. Cloudflare, Inc. is a publicly traded, independent U.S. company (NYSE: NET) with no controlling parent or private-equity sponsor identified ⁹. No public evidence identified of parent or beneficial-owner direct investments or subsidiaries with distinct Israeli-economy exposure, beyond standard index-fund holdings not examined in this review. No public evidence identified of Cloudflare underwriting Israeli sovereign debt, Israel Bonds, or appearing among the bank underwriters named in BankTrack’s research on Israeli “war bond” issuance ¹⁰. No public evidence identified of Cloudflare holding Israeli-domiciled securities, Israeli sovereign bonds, or Israel-focused fund positions on its balance sheet. No public evidence identified of personal or family-office investments by co-founders Matthew Prince or Michelle Zatlyn, or other board members, into Israeli companies, settlement enterprises, or Israeli defense firms ⁹.

Operational Presence & Market Activity

Cloudflare’s disclosed physical footprint in Israel is limited to the Tel Aviv network point of presence live since 2018; No public evidence identified of a Cloudflare sales office, support center, or warehouse specifically located in Israel, distinct from the Dubai regional hub ⁵⁸. No public evidence identified of a disclosed Israel-specific headcount or Israeli tax/regulatory registration status for Cloudflare. Cloudflare’s Form 10-K does not characterize Israel as a distinct market segment beyond general geopolitical risk-factor language ¹. Executive commentary instead frames the company’s Israel/Palestine activity through a security-neutrality lens: co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince stated in 2014, regarding serving both Israeli and Hamas-linked customers, “Both sides have an absolute right to tell their story. We’re not providing material support for anybody” ¹¹. Co-founder and President Michelle Zatlyn, in an April 2024 profile describing the company’s response to the October 7, 2023 attacks and subsequent DDoS activity against both Israeli and Palestinian sites, stated, “Whether sites were run by Palestinians or Israelis, we said, ‘Hey, if you need cybersecurity, we are here to help you’” ¹². Cloudflare’s blog has published extensively on cyberattack patterns during the Israel-Hamas war, including an October 23, 2023 analysis of attacks on both Israeli and Palestinian internet infrastructure ¹³, an April 2024 traffic analysis of Iran’s attack on Israel ¹⁴, and a broader tag archive of Israel-related posts from 2022–2024 ¹⁵. Cloudflare Radar publicly documented internet-disruption patterns affecting Gaza, including a April 26, 2024 report on disruption via the Paltel network ¹⁶, and traffic drops in Palestinian territory coinciding with the April 13, 2024 Iran-Israel attack sirens ¹⁴, findings corroborated independently by Access Now’s tracking of Gaza connectivity disruptions ¹⁷.

Corporate Structure & Foundational Ties

Cloudflare was founded in 2009 in San Francisco, California, by Matthew Prince, Michelle Zatlyn, and Lee Holloway; it is not an acquired entity and has no Israeli-origin brand identity ⁹. Its headquarters and domicile remain San Francisco, California, with no evidence identified of a dual or legacy Israel headquarters ⁹. No public evidence identified of Israeli Preferred Technology Enterprise (PTE) tax-residency status held by Cloudflare or an Israeli subsidiary, and No public evidence identified of beneficial ownership or control of Cloudflare by Israeli capital. Cloudflare’s disclosed acquisitions are documented as non-Israeli: Area 1 Security (California, $156.6–162 million, closed April 1, 2022) ¹⁸ and Vectrix Security (Amsterdam, Netherlands, $7.6 million, January 14, 2022) ¹⁹; No public evidence identified of any acquired Israeli operating company held as a Cloudflare subsidiary. No public evidence identified of Israeli state ownership stakes, government board appointees, or critical-national-infrastructure designation in Israel. Documented customer relationships - not equity or governance linkages - include the IDF’s use of Cloudflare services to protect government web assets during Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal website (netanyahu.org.il) using Cloudflare protection as of the 2014 report ¹¹. No public evidence identified of golden shares, founder shares, or charter provisions tying Cloudflare’s governance to the Israeli state.

Profit Repatriation & Economic Contribution

No public evidence identified of Cloudflare disclosing Israel-specific revenue figures in its financial reporting; its published company-wide financial results are general corporate figures not segmented by country ¹. No public evidence identified of profit flows in either direction specific to Israeli operations, consistent with Cloudflare’s U.S. domicile and the Tel Aviv facility’s function as a network node rather than a separate revenue-generating subsidiary ⁵¹. No public evidence identified of Cloudflare being characterized in Israeli industry or government sources as a key employer or sector anchor within the Israeli economy. Separately, Cloudflare’s Project Galileo, established in 2014, provides free security services to at-risk civil-society organizations, and per the company’s own ten-year retrospective this program protects organizations “based in the region” including Israel/Palestine-linked emergency-response and Muslim-community crowdfunding platforms, without naming specific entities or disclosing financial value ²⁰²¹.

End Notes