New Balance - Political Audit

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

No public evidence identified of an official New Balance corporate statement addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict, the 7 October 2023 attacks, or the subsequent Gaza war; systematic review of company press materials and leadership remarks did not surface a comparable statement. By contrast, New Balance issued a formal corporate statement in March 2022 pledging $1,000,000 to Ukraine humanitarian relief, including an immediate $100,000 to the ICRC, and suspended product shipments to Russia ¹. On 30 May 2020, New Balance posted a public statement of support for the Black Lives Matter movement tagged #GlobalRunningDay, #AhmaudArbery, and #BlackLivesMatter, and announced a donation of 10,000 pairs of shoes to Black community organizations in Atlanta alongside a stated target that at least 30% of open positions be filled by Black or Latinx candidates ²³. This produces an observable asymmetry: New Balance has adopted public, resourced postures on the Ukraine war (2022) and on U.S. racial-justice issues (2020), while No public evidence identified of any comparable statement, donation pledge, or symbolic campaign regarding Palestinian civilian harm during the Gaza war (2023–2025). New Balance is privately held and does not file SEC Form 10-K or other public annual reports; No public evidence identified of any annual-report or corporate-PR framing of its Israel market presence beyond standard retail-franchise language tied to its Delta Israel relationship. No public evidence identified of New Balance responding publicly to consumer-boycott tracking of the brand, notwithstanding its continued listing on at least one consumer boycott-tracking database ⁴.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

New Balance’s Israel retail presence operates through local franchise partner Delta Israel Brands, a subsidiary of Israeli apparel manufacturer Delta Galil Industries (TASE: DELG); Delta Israel Brands is 80%-owned within that structure, with CEO Isaac Dabah (46.61% shareholder) and Chairman Noam Lautman (9.78% shareholder) ⁵. Who Profits documents that Delta Israel Brands operates retail branches in the East Jerusalem settlement neighborhoods of Pisgat Zeev and Ramot, and in the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim ⁵. The same source documented, and revalidated as of 2021, a 1,680-square-meter Delta Galil warehouse in the Barkan Industrial Zone, a settlement industrial park in the occupied West Bank ⁵. AFSC’s Investigate database separately confirms that Delta Galil/Delta Israel Brands maintains three retail stores in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and confirms Delta Galil’s 2020 inclusion in the UN OHCHR settlement-business database, which was subsequently updated to list 158 enterprises from 11 countries ⁶⁷. No public evidence identified that New Balance itself, as distinct from its franchisee’s parent company Delta Galil, is separately named in the UN OHCHR settlement-business database; a direct review of the June 2023 OHCHR database-update document did not return legible text matches for either “New Balance” or “Delta Galil,” a limitation of PDF text extraction rather than confirmation of absence ⁸. New Balance’s link to settlement-linked operations is accordingly indirect, running through a franchise/royalty relationship with Delta Israel Brands, whose parent Delta Galil operates settlement retail branches and has historically operated a settlement-zone warehouse ⁵⁶. No public evidence identified of New Balance-branded manufacturing or company-owned retail operating directly inside a settlement, and No public evidence identified of formal legal challenges, litigation, or regulatory enforcement action specifically naming New Balance over these ties, as distinct from UN-database listing and NGO advocacy. The BDS National Committee called for a boycott of and divestment from New Balance beginning with a 2013 campaign tied to New Balance’s sponsorship of the Jerusalem Marathon, reiterated on 12 March 2014, on grounds that the marathon route traverses occupied East Jerusalem and is co-organized with Israeli government ministries, citing UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk’s characterization of associated East Jerusalem demolitions as part of “a gradual and bureaucratic process of ethnic cleansing” ⁹¹⁰. New Balance and co-sponsor Crowne Plaza/IHG reportedly did not withdraw sponsorship in response to the 2013–2014 campaign ⁹. New Balance also appears as a tracked brand in at least one independent consumer-boycott database maintained in connection with Israel-Palestine-related corporate scrutiny ⁴.

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

No public evidence identified of HR enforcement actions, terminations, or legal disputes involving New Balance employees over pro-Palestinian speech, symbols, or related union activity; labor-reporting and news-search review did not surface a New Balance-specific incident. New Balance is not a content or platform company, and No public evidence identified of algorithmic moderation or editorial-stance findings concerning the brand. No public evidence identified of regulatory action or public reporting specifically addressing labeling, sourcing, or categorization of New Balance products originating from Israel or Israeli settlements, as distinct from the Delta Israel franchise-retail findings documented above; review of EU/UK settlement-goods labeling enforcement news and customs/trade press did not surface a New Balance-specific case.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

New Balance produced an “Israeli Army” colorway of its 577 model (M577BSL) in the 1990s, a historical, discontinued product documented in sneaker-collector retrospectives as having been issued to or associated with the Israeli military; it is treated as a notable brand-history item in hobbyist coverage and appears only in the collector market today, with no evidence of a current or revived product line ¹¹¹². New Balance sponsored the Jerusalem Marathon as documented in 2013–2014 reporting, an event co-organized by the Jerusalem Municipality, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, and El Al ⁹¹³. No public evidence identified of New Balance hosting Israeli government officials, receiving state honors, or entering formal non-commercial partnerships with Israeli state academic or governmental institutions beyond the Jerusalem Marathon sponsorship. No public evidence identified of New Balance’s participation in an official “Brand Israel” government public-relations campaign specifically, as distinct from the marathon sponsorship documented above.

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

New Balance Athletics is a registered federal lobbying client; OpenSecrets summary data indicates $210,000 in lobbying spending and campaign-related contributions of $9,389,538 in the 2024 cycle, with no lobbying reported on specific bills per the available summary ¹⁴. No public evidence identified of a corporate PAC donation, sponsorship, or leadership role by New Balance directed to AIPAC, CFI, FIDF, JNF/KKL, Lev Echad, or other named military-welfare or settlement organizations. Chairman Jim Davis has a well-documented pattern of personal political donations to U.S. domestic political causes, including approximately $396,500 to Trump Victory in 2016 ¹⁵, $1,000,000 to a Romney-aligned super PAC in 2011 from which New Balance the company publicly distanced itself ¹⁶, and spending on local Boston-area city council races in 2023 ¹⁷. No public evidence identified of Jim Davis or Anne Davis personal donations specifically to FIDF, JNF, Israeli settlement organizations, or Israel-advocacy PACs. No public evidence identified of New Balance directing corporate resources, logistics, or in-kind support to Israeli state, military, or state-aligned NGO efforts during the Gaza war (2023–present); by contrast, New Balance’s $1,000,000 Ukraine humanitarian pledge in 2022 stands as a documented instance of crisis-related corporate resource mobilization for a different conflict ¹.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

New Balance Athletics, Inc. is a privately held U.S. company majority-owned by the Davis family. No public evidence identified of SEC Form 10-K filings, proxy statements, publicly disclosed state-held golden shares, or charter provisions tying New Balance’s primary mission to advancing any state’s geopolitical goals; the company presents as a standard commercial athletic-footwear and apparel enterprise. The New Balance Foundation, the company’s philanthropic vehicle, was established in 1981 by Anne and Jim Davis ¹⁸. New Balance also operates an employee charitable-matching program, per third-party matching-gift program documentation ¹⁹. No public evidence identified linking New Balance Foundation grantmaking to Israel/Palestine-related organizations on either side of the conflict.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Jim Davis serves as New Balance’s Chairman and is the company figure most consistently documented in political-giving and civic-engagement reporting, spanning national Republican fundraising, a since-disavowed super PAC contribution, and local Boston-area electoral spending ¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷. No public evidence identified of personal donations by Davis or other New Balance C-suite figures (including Vice Chairman Anne Davis, and CEOs Joe Preston or Robert DeMartini across their respective tenures) to FIDF, JNF/KKL, or other regional advocacy, parastatal, or military-welfare organizations. No public evidence identified of op-eds, signed letters, or social-media statements by Jim Davis, Anne Davis, Joe Preston, or Robert DeMartini specifically regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict or the Gaza war. New Balance is privately held and does not publicly disclose a complete board of directors. No public evidence identified of any named New Balance executive holding a board, leadership, or advisory role in CFI, AIPAC, USISTF, ADL, or comparable pro-Israel advocacy organizations, nor in Regavim, Im Tirtzu, or other settlement-linked organizations.