KPMG

Key Findings

• Economic: KPMG Israel/Somekh Chaikin is a registered Israeli partnership with about 1,700 professionals, offices in four Israeli cities, ongoing government consulting relationships, and a substantial role across the Israeli professional-services market.^{1, 2, 3, 4}
• Digital: KPMG Israel partner Ido Ron stated in March 2025 that his technology department had worked on significant projects with Israel’s Ministry of Defense and army and that its technology was used on the battlefield for image, video and text analysis. KPMG also participated in building a secure Google Cloud foundation for the Government of Israel, while AFSC separately identifies Somekh Chaikin-KPMG as contracted for a government cloud-migration strategy.^{5, 6, 7}
• Political: During the post-7 October period, KPMG Israel publicly supported Israeli reservists and the Israeli economy, withdrew from Web Summit after remarks about Israel, and offered professional assistance relating to customs release of third-party donations to the IDF.^{8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13}
• Not found: No public evidence identified that KPMG manufactures or supplies weapons, munitions, military hardware, tactical equipment, military base services, or settlement construction equipment. Its verified military-facing activity is professional and digital services rather than weapons production.⁵

Target Profile

Key Facts:

• KPMG Israel reports approximately 1,700 multidisciplinary professionals and offices in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheba and Haifa.^{2, 3}
• Public procurement records show Somekh Chaikin participating in Israeli government consulting arrangements extending into 2027.⁴
• KPMG Israel acquired and integrated the operations of Israeli SAP/AI business Q.V. Technologies in 2025; the public evidence does not establish the exact equity structure of that transaction.^{19, 20, 21}
• The network structure matters for attribution: acts of KPMG Israel are not automatically attributable to every KPMG member firm or KPMG International.¹⁴

Executive Summary

KPMG’s principal documented Israel nexus is through Somekh Chaikin, the Israeli KPMG member firm. Somekh Chaikin is a registered Israeli partnership with a substantial permanent operating footprint: approximately 1,700 professionals, offices in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheba and Haifa, government advisory work, major financial-sector audit relationships and a sizeable technology practice.^{1, 2, 3, 16} This local operational footprint is the principal driver of the fixed Economic score of 9.00.

The most consequential technology finding concerns direct work with Israeli state and military institutions. In a March 2025 interview, KPMG Israel partner Ido Ron said that after 7 October his technology department had worked on significant projects with the Ministry of Defense and army. He described technology from the department as being used on the battlefield for image, video and text analysis and referred separately to a mostly classified Ministry of Defense medical-committee project.⁵ The evidence establishes military use of KPMG Israel technology, but it does not identify surveillance feeds, intelligence-cycle integration, target generation, weapons control, fire control or autonomous lethal functions. That evidentiary boundary is reflected in the fixed Digital score of 5.00 rather than a higher-impact military-technology classification.

KPMG also has a documented role in Israeli state cloud transformation. A KPMG client story says a team drawing on KPMG firms in the United States, Germany, Israel and India designed and deployed a secure Google Cloud foundation for the Government of Israel, including security controls, identity management, networking and infrastructure-as-code capabilities intended to support wider ministry migration.⁶ AFSC Investigate separately identifies Somekh Chaikin-KPMG as contracted to establish a government cloud-migration strategy connected to the Nimbus environment.⁷ The audits found no evidence that KPMG itself operates the underlying hyperscale cloud infrastructure or directly contracted with the World Zionist Organization Settlement Division.

The political record includes affirmative institutional support during the post-7 October period. KPMG Israel’s Iron Swords/ALL IN hub positioned the firm in support of clients and the Israeli economy and offered professional assistance concerning customs release of third-party donations to the IDF.⁹ KPMG Israel also publicly supported reservist employees, including communications involving service in Gaza and the West Bank, withdrew from Web Summit after organizer Paddy Cosgrave’s remarks about Israel, and in 2026 continued public reservist-support activity.^{8, 10, 11, 12, 13} The evidence does not establish a corporate KPMG donation to the IDF, transfer of KPMG assets, donated weapons or physical logistics, or a formal Israel-Palestine lobbying programme.

The military audit found extensive professional-services relationships with Israeli defence-sector companies but did not establish KPMG as a manufacturer, integrator or supplier of weapons, munitions, military platforms, military hardware or settlement infrastructure. The military-facing technology engagement is therefore scored in Digital, while Military remains 0.00. Under the fixed, human-vetted V6.5 scoring supplied for this dossier, KPMG receives BRS 816 - Tier A (Extreme Complicity), driven primarily by the Economic score of 9.00, alongside Digital 5.00 and Political 6.96.

Timeline of Relevant Events

Corporate Overview

KPMG is organized as a network of legally separate member firms rather than a single conventional multinational corporation. KPMG International Limited coordinates the network but does not itself provide professional services to clients, and member firms are responsible for their own engagements and obligations.¹⁴ The relevant Israeli entity is Somekh Chaikin, a registered Israeli partnership operating as KPMG Israel.¹

Somekh Chaikin has a substantial local operating footprint. KPMG Israel reports approximately 1,700 professionals and offices in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheba and Haifa.^{2, 3} Its service lines include audit, tax, advisory, government consulting and technology work, and its government practice expressly describes work with ministries and other governmental bodies through framework tenders.¹⁶

KPMG Israel also operates a significant technology practice. In 2025 it integrated the operations of Q.V. Technologies, an Israeli SAP and AI solutions business, into that practice.^{19, 20, 21} The source record does not establish the exact legal equity structure or justify describing Q.V. Technologies Ltd as a wholly owned subsidiary.

The Israeli member firm should also be distinguished from other KPMG entities. Technology alliances, services or political conduct by KPMG firms in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India or elsewhere are not attributed to Somekh Chaikin unless the audits establish a specific Israeli connection.¹⁴

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

The Military audit identified professional and advisory relationships touching Israel’s defence sector, but no qualifying military-production frame. The strongest direct state relationship was the March 2025 evidence that KPMG Israel’s technology department worked with the Ministry of Defense and army.⁵ Because the documented output was image, video and text analysis rather than a weapon, munition or purpose-built kinetic system, that finding governs Digital rather than Military.

The audit also identified Somekh Chaikin as auditor or professional-services provider to companies with Israeli defence activities. Documented examples include T3 Defense, Duke Robotics, Bet Shemesh Engines and IMCO Industries; the audited records separately establish their military-vehicle, armed-drone, aircraft-engine-maintenance and defence-electronics activities.^{26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31} The underlying weapons and military products belong to KPMG’s clients; the audits did not identify KPMG as their manufacturer, designer, integrator or supplier.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is the absence of evidence placing KPMG in the weapons-production or military-hardware supply chain. No public evidence was identified that KPMG manufactures munitions, tactical vehicles, missiles, weapons systems, military-grade components or battlefield hardware; provides base-sustainment services; supplies settlement construction machinery; or holds arms-export licences for Israeli military end-users.

The battlefield analytics evidence does not establish targeting, intelligence fusion, fire control, target generation or autonomous lethality.⁵ The client relationships likewise cannot be converted into claims that KPMG participated in its clients’ defence programmes.

These limits are why the vetted Military result is 0.00 despite the separate military-facing digital evidence.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

The strongest Digital evidence is direct military use. Ido Ron, a KPMG Israel technology partner, stated in March 2025 that his department had worked on significant Ministry of Defense and army projects since 7 October and that its technology was used on the battlefield for image, video and text analysis.⁵ This establishes direct operator proximity to an Israeli military end-user.

KPMG also participated in Government of Israel cloud transformation. Its own client story says a cross-member-firm team developed a secure Google Cloud foundation capable of supporting ministry migrations, with more than 100 security controls, identity and access management, networking, privileged-access design and infrastructure-as-code/policy-as-code.⁶ AFSC separately reports that Somekh Chaikin-KPMG was contracted to establish a government cloud-migration strategy in connection with Nimbus.⁷

In 2026 KPMG Israel also described continuing support for Israel Aerospace Industries’ CMMC Level 2 cybersecurity-compliance process and annual affirmation.²⁵ KPMG Israel’s wider technology operation includes AI, cloud, cyber and digital capabilities and an Israeli R&D organization.³²

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The March 2025 interview does not disclose the engagement term or establish continuation of those Ministry of Defense/army projects into 2026.⁵ The battlefield technology is described only at a functional level. The audits found no evidence identifying the software, algorithms, datasets or operational decisions involved, and no evidence that KPMG supplied autonomous targeting, fire-control software, kill-chain automation, intercepted-communications processing or offensive spyware.⁵

KPMG’s Government of Israel cloud work does not make KPMG the Nimbus hyperscale provider. The underlying cloud infrastructure is supplied by other companies, and the public client story does not allocate every implementation task specifically to Somekh Chaikin.⁶ AFSC’s evidence supports a Somekh Chaikin government migration-strategy role but does not establish a direct KPMG contract with the World Zionist Organization Settlement Division or a specific settlement authority.⁷

These evidentiary limits underpin the vetted Digital score of 5.00, with high proximity but a moderate impact classification.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

The Economic score is driven by KPMG Israel’s durable and substantial domestic economic presence. Somekh Chaikin is an Israeli registered partnership with approximately 1,700 professionals and offices in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheba and Haifa.^{1, 2, 3} Its activities span audit, tax, advisory, technology and government work.

Public procurement records establish ongoing relationships with Israeli ministries and state bodies. A September 2026 Accountant General notice lists Somekh Chaikin among suppliers for regulatory-policy consulting extending through March 2027.⁴ The audits caution that a NIS 65 million amount shown on that procurement page appears identically against multiple suppliers and therefore cannot be treated as KPMG’s individual fee.

The firm has also expanded its Israeli technology operation through the 2025 acquisition/integration of Q.V. Technologies’ operations.^{19, 20, 21}

Somekh Chaikin serves as auditor to Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi.^{23, 24} Both banks appear in OHCHR’s 2025 settlement-business database for specified settlement-related activities.²² This establishes a professional-services relationship between KPMG Israel and OHCHR-listed banks. It does not establish that KPMG itself carried out the banks’ listed settlement activities.

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

No direct KPMG office, facility, sourcing operation or identified service location in a West Bank settlement was established. Exact-name review did not identify KPMG or Somekh Chaikin itself in the 2025 OHCHR settlement-business database.²² This dated screen does not establish clearance against a later database update.

The bank-audit relationships are indirect with respect to the banks’ settlement activities. An auditor’s relationship with a client does not demonstrate that the auditor performed, approved or advised on every commercial activity undertaken by that client.

The Q.V. transaction is documented as an acquisition of operations and subsequent integration, but the evidence does not establish an exact shareholding percentage or wholly owned subsidiary structure.^{19, 20, 21}

The fixed Economic score of 9.00 therefore rests principally on the scale and durability of KPMG Israel’s own Israeli operating footprint and institutional relationships, rather than a claim that KPMG itself operates settlements.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

KPMG Israel adopted a visible institutional posture after 7 October 2023. Its Iron Swords/ALL IN hub stated that the firm was committed to standing with its clients and the Israeli economy and offered wartime business, tax, compensation and regulatory support.⁹ The hub also offered professional assistance with customs release of third-party donations to the IDF.⁹ This was the central governing finding for the Political score.

KPMG Israel also withdrew its participation sponsorship from Web Summit following organizer Paddy Cosgrave’s comments concerning Israel.⁸ Its leadership and corporate channels publicly supported Israeli reservists: Jonathan Lavender thanked approximately 200 KPMG Israel reservists in October 2023, while later corporate posts praised employees describing reserve service in the West Bank and combat-engineering service in Gaza.^{10, 11, 13} In October 2026 the firm publicized its participation in a reservist-support meeting at the President’s Residence and committed to continued workplace support for reservists.¹²

These public communications sit alongside ongoing commercial engagement with Israeli state institutions through government consulting and cloud work.^{16, 6, 4}

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The Iron Swords evidence does not establish that KPMG donated money, equipment or other corporate assets to the IDF. The verified act was an offer of professional assistance around third-party donations, including customs release.⁹ The audits found no evidence of a direct KPMG International or Somekh Chaikin corporate donation to the IDF, FIDF, JNF/KKL or a settlement organization.

Likewise, employee reserve service is personal military service. KPMG’s public praise and workplace support constitute corporate communications and employee policy, but the employees’ military acts cannot automatically be treated as KPMG operational acts.^{10, 11, 13}

No public evidence was identified of KPMG lobbying filings, political-action spending or a formal leadership role in an anti-BDS or Israel-Palestine geopolitical pressure organization. Exact-name review also did not identify KPMG or Somekh Chaikin as an enterprise listed in OHCHR’s 2025 settlement-business database.²²

These limits are preserved in the vetted Political score of 6.96.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Complicity Index Score

Method: V6.5

• V_MAX: 9.00 Avg_OTHERS: 3.99
• BRS Score: 816 Tier: A (Extreme Complicity)

V_MAX is driven by Economic, reflecting the scale, durability and directness of KPMG Israel’s approximately 1,700-person Israeli operation and institutional market presence. Digital reflects direct military use of KPMG Israel technology with substantial proximity but bounded functional evidence, while Political reflects affirmative institutional support around an IDF donation channel and reservist-related corporate activity.

The method is scale-free, evidence-only and human-vetted: Impact classifies the type of documented activity, Magnitude assesses its scale and persistence, and Proximity measures the directness of the target’s relationship to the relevant act or end-user.

Methodology Note

• Evidence is restricted to the four completed domain audits. Claims marked unresolved or unverified in those audits are either excluded or retain the same caveat.
• The V6.5 framework is scale-free: Impact (I) concerns the type of activity, Magnitude (M) its scale or persistence, and Proximity (P) the directness of the company’s relationship to the relevant activity.
• Temporal treatment matters. Historic or divested relationships are not presented as current where continuity was not established, and exited operations are mitigated rather than treated as permanent exposure.
• Entity attribution is specific. KPMG member firms are legally separate, so conduct by one member firm is not automatically transferred to KPMG International, KPMG Israel or another national member firm.¹⁴
• Client conduct is not transferred to KPMG merely because Somekh Chaikin audits or advises the client. Where settlement-listed banks or defence manufacturers are clients, the dossier distinguishes the client’s conduct from KPMG’s own services.
• No public evidence identified is used where the audits performed the relevant checks but did not establish the claimed activity. Absence from a particular database is treated as a bounded search result rather than proof of universal non-involvement.