INDEX / DIRECTORY / PAYPAL

PayPal

Payments & Fintech 55 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-09-07 METHOD V6.5
BDS-1000 Score 708 /1000 B Tier B - Severe
Military ↗ 0.00 Digital ↗ 1.82 Economic ↗ 5.66 Political ↗ 8.00

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Key Findings

  • Economic: PayPal operates Israeli payment services through PayPal Israel Payments Services Ltd. in Tel Aviv and has completed acquisitions of Israeli technology companies, including Curv and Cymbio.1, 2, 3
  • Political: A PayPal Giving Fund donor-advised-fund grant of US$429,496 to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is documented, although the record does not establish that PayPal Inc. funded, selected, or directed the grant.4, 5
  • Digital: PayPal’s documented Israeli technology nexus includes historical acquisitions of CyActive and Curv and the completed acquisition of Tel Aviv-headquartered Cymbio; continuing deployment or scale of CyActive and Curv technology is not established.2, 6, 7
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of PayPal defence contracts, military or security supply, weapons or dual-use production, Israeli government-cloud participation, or a named PayPal facility in an Israeli settlement.1, 8, 9

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NamePayPal Holdings, Inc.
JurisdictionDelaware, United States.10
Headquarters2211 North First Street, San Jose, California 95131, United States.10
SectorDigital payments and financial-technology platform.
OwnershipPublic company; BlackRock reported beneficial ownership of 71,769,305 shares, or 8.1% of the class, as of 30 June 2026. No individual controlling shareholder was identified in the reviewed SEC materials.11, 12
Key Executives / GovernanceEnrique Lores, President and CEO; David W. Dorman, Board Chair. The 2026 proxy identified Joy Chik, Jonathan Christodoro, Carmine Di Sibio, Alyssa H. Henry, Deborah M. Messemer, David M. Moffett, Ann M. Sarnoff, Deirdre Stanley, and Frank D. Yeary among director nominees.12
Israeli-Nexus SummaryPayPal provides regulated payment services in Israel through a Tel Aviv-addressed local entity and has acquired several Israeli technology businesses; the reviewed record also documents an IDF-related charitable payment channel and a PayPal Giving Fund grant, with important attribution limits.1, 2, 4, 5

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

PayPal Holdings, Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated digital-payments company headquartered in San Jose, California. Its documented Israel nexus includes a locally regulated service provider, PayPal Israel Payments Services Ltd., which offers PayPal services in Israel and is addressed at 98 Yigal Alon Street, Tel Aviv-Yafo. PayPal’s Israeli migration materials state that Israeli users moved from PayPal Pte. Ltd. to the local entity on 6 July 2026, subject to licensing, under Israel Securities Authority supervision.1, 14

The strongest economic and digital vectors are PayPal’s Israeli operating presence and its acquisition history. The audited record verifies acquisitions of Fraud Sciences, CyActive, Tel Aviv-based Curv, and Tel Aviv-headquartered Cymbio. Cymbio’s acquisition was completed on 5 February 2026, and PayPal states that its team and technology will support Store Sync. These facts establish commercial and technology ties, but the record does not establish the current operational status, deployment, personnel, revenue, or infrastructure scale of CyActive or Curv within PayPal.2, 3, 6, 7

A separate, limited military-adjacent record concerns charitable payments rather than procurement. PayPal-hosted and PayPal-directed pages facilitate donations to Thank Israeli Soldiers, a nongovernmental U.S. charity supporting IDF soldiers during and after service. PayPal Charitable Giving Fund’s 2024 Form 990 also records a US$429,496 general-support grant to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The evidence does not establish an IDF or Ministry of Defense contract, transaction amounts or fees for the Thank Israeli Soldiers channel, the underlying donor for the FIDF grant, or that PayPal Inc. itself funded, selected, or directed that grant.4, 5, 15

The audited record also includes civil-society allegations concerning Palestinian access to PayPal. 7amleh reported that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were excluded while the service remained available to Israeli citizens, including West Bank settlers; this remains the organization’s reported finding, not a PayPal statement, independently conducted eligibility test, or official legal finding. PayPal’s proxy describes its market-entry decisions as case-specific and says they consider demand, financial impact, competition, costs, risks, compliance, and partner relationships.12, 16

No public evidence identified of PayPal defence contracts, supply-chain integration with Israeli defence primes, weapons or military-specification products, Israeli state-cloud participation, Israeli military/intelligence surveillance deployment, or a named PayPal facility, branch, contract, or reseller in a West Bank, East Jerusalem, or Golan Heights settlement. Document-scoped scans also found no PayPal mention in specified OHCHR, UN, and listed civil-society materials; those findings are bounded and do not establish absence from all records. On the fixed human-vetted V6.5 methodology, the final result is BRS 708, Tier B (Severe Complicity).8, 9, 17

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
28 January 2008PayPal announced an agreement to acquire Fraud Sciences Ltd., an Israeli provider of online-risk tools, for approximately US$169 million in aggregate cash consideration; the announcement itself did not confirm closing or current operating status.2
6 March 2015A share-purchase agreement was identified among PayPal Israel Ltd., CyActive Security Ltd., CyActive shareholders, and their representative.6
Q2 2015eBay reported that its Payments segment completed acquisitions of CyActive and Paydiant during the quarter ended 30 June 2015 for aggregate consideration of approximately US$281 million.6
8 March 2021PayPal announced an agreement to acquire Tel Aviv-based Curv.3
5 April 2021PayPal confirmed completion of its Curv acquisition; Curv’s team was to join PayPal’s blockchain, crypto, and digital-currencies business unit.3
March 2022PayPal publicly supported Ukraine, suspended services in Russia, and announced Ukraine-related fundraising and payment measures.18
June 2023A UN Committee newsletter reported that eleven Members of Congress had urged PayPal to make services available to Palestinians in the occupied territory.19
2024PayPal Charitable Giving Fund recorded a US$429,496 general-support grant to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.4
22 January 2026PayPal announced its planned acquisition of Tel Aviv-headquartered Cymbio.7
5 February 2026PayPal stated that it completed its acquisition of Cymbio.7
1 March 2026Enrique Lores became PayPal’s President and CEO; David W. Dorman became Board Chair in connection with the appointment.12
6 July 2026PayPal’s Israel materials stated that Israeli users moved to PayPal Israel Payments Services Ltd., subject to licensing.1, 14

Corporate Overview

PayPal Holdings, Inc. is the SEC registrant for PayPal and its consolidated subsidiaries. Its FY2025 filing identifies PayPal, Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary and lists major brands including PayPal, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom, Hyperwallet, Honey, Paidy, PayPal Credit, and PayPal Open.10

The company’s Exhibit 21 lists significant subsidiaries, including PayPal, Inc., PayPal Pte. Ltd., PayPal UK Ltd., PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. et Cie, S.C.A., Paidy Inc., and other entities. It expressly omits subsidiaries not significant individually or in the aggregate. Therefore, the absence of PayPal Israel Payments Services Ltd. from that exhibit does not establish that it is outside the PayPal group, nor does it resolve the ownership chain of the Israeli entity.13

For Israeli users, PayPal’s legal materials identify PayPal Israel Payments Services Ltd., company number 516478872, as the regulated payment-service provider. The materials establish a Tel Aviv notice address and local regulatory status, but do not establish PayPal data residency in Israel, an Israeli data centre or R&D centre, a settlement-area office, or the entity’s ownership percentage within the PayPal group.1, 14

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of PayPal contracting with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, IDF, Israel Prison Service, Israel Police, Border Police, or another Israeli security body. No public evidence identified of weapons, military-specification products, dual-use manufacturing, defence-prime supply-chain integration, export licences, or contracted base services.8, 9

The audited record does establish two charitable-payment-related facts. First, a PayPal-hosted donation page identifies Thank Israeli Soldiers as a recipient supporting IDF soldiers during and after service. Second, PayPal Charitable Giving Fund’s 2024 Form 990 records a US$429,496 general-support grant to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.4, 15

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The available record describes civilian payment and charitable-payment services, not defence procurement. The Thank Israeli Soldiers pages do not disclose transaction amounts, merchant terms, fees, disbursement details, or ultimate use of funds, and do not establish an IDF or Ministry of Defense contract.15

The FIDF grant was made by PayPal Charitable Giving Fund’s donor-advised-fund operation. The governing documents provide that donor recommendations are advisory and that the Fund retains legal control and grant discretion. The audited materials do not identify the underlying donor, donor account, restriction, recommendation, PayPal Inc. corporate appropriation, or a decision by PayPal Inc. to select FIDF. The FIDF grant and the Thank Israeli Soldiers payment channel involve different recipient organizations and should not be conflated.4, 5

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

The governing digital frame is PayPal’s direct provision of ordinary, locally regulated consumer payment services in Israel through PayPal Israel Payments Services Ltd. The reviewed legal materials establish the current local service and its regulatory status, but do not establish Israeli data residency, state access, surveillance provision, or a security-body contract.1, 14

PayPal’s wider documented Israeli technology footprint derives primarily from acquisitions. PayPal acquired CyActive Security Ltd. in 2015 to enhance information-security capabilities. It completed acquisition of Tel Aviv-based Curv in 2021, describing Curv as cloud-based digital-asset-security infrastructure using multi-party computation. It completed acquisition of Tel Aviv-headquartered Cymbio in February 2026; PayPal states that Cymbio’s team and technology will enable its Store Sync service for merchant product data in AI channels.6, 3, 7

PayPal’s privacy materials describe collection and use of transaction, geolocation, device, network-activity, inferred-risk, and biometric data, including voice identification, photo identification, and face scans when users consent to authentication or identity verification. They also describe automated fraud, risk, and creditworthiness decisions and AI-model training for services.20

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The existence of these Israeli acquisitions does not establish current deployment or operational scale. PayPal’s FY2025 filing contains no text match for “CyActive” or “Curv,” and the reviewed materials do not establish current CyActive or Curv units, personnel, infrastructure, revenue, or technology deployment.6, 10

No public evidence identified of PayPal use of named Israeli surveillance, facial-recognition, predictive-policing, or intelligence technology; a contract with Israeli military, intelligence, or security bodies; Project Nimbus participation; Israeli data storage or routing; or AI, surveillance, or targeting systems supplied to Israeli state actors.8, 9, 20

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

PayPal operates a locally regulated payment-service presence in Israel through PayPal Israel Payments Services Ltd., with a Tel Aviv address. Its migration materials state that the entity operates under direct Israel Securities Authority supervision and that PayPal charges VAT on fees under the Israeli VAT Act when services are provided through the locally established entity.1, 14

The company has also committed capital through Israeli acquisitions: Fraud Sciences in 2008, CyActive in 2015, Curv in 2021, and Cymbio in 2026. These transactions establish historical and current commercial investment ties to Israeli businesses, although several transaction terms and present operational details were not disclosed.2, 3, 6, 7

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

No public evidence identified of PayPal procuring Israeli retail goods, manufacturing inputs, agricultural products, or settlement-origin products. No public evidence identified of underwriting Israeli sovereign debt or Israel Bonds, lending or trade-finance facilities to Israeli defence primes or OHCHR-listed companies, insurance underwriting, or disclosed holdings in Israeli arms, sovereign, or settlement-active companies.9, 10

No public evidence identified of PayPal offices, merchant operations, authorized resellers, or service arrangements specifically located in West Bank settlements, East Jerusalem settlements, or the Golan Heights. PayPal’s 10-K reports 439 million active accounts across approximately 200 markets but does not provide Israel-specific workforce, revenue, market-share, tax-paid, or profit-repatriation figures.9, 10

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

The governing political frame is PayPal Charitable Giving Fund’s documented US$429,496 general-support grant to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The Fund’s governing terms state that donor recommendations are advisory and that the Fund retains legal control and grant discretion. The record does not identify the underlying donor or establish that PayPal Inc. funded or selected the grant, but it does document the act of the PayPal-controlled Giving Fund.4, 5

The audited record also provides differential public and market-access context. PayPal publicly supported Ukraine, suspended services in Russia, and reported more than US$600 million raised with charity partners for Ukraine relief. No public evidence identified in the reviewed corporate-news and Israel legal materials of an equivalent PayPal statement, Gaza-relief programme, or Palestinian product-access initiative specific to Israel–Palestine.18

Civil-society reporting from 7amleh states that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were excluded from PayPal while service remained available to Israeli citizens, including West Bank settlers. This is a reported advocacy finding, not a PayPal admission, independently replicated eligibility test, or official legal finding. A shareholder proposal in PayPal’s 2026 proxy similarly sought a non-discrimination policy for conflict zones and referred to Palestine; PayPal attributed factual assertions to the proponents and recommended voting against it.12, 16

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

PayPal’s strongest stated defence is that market-entry and product-availability decisions are made case by case using customer need, financial impact, competitive landscape, costs, risk, regulatory and compliance requirements, and partner relationships. The proxy did not announce availability in the Palestinian Territories or disclose a relationship with Israeli state or security bodies.12

No public evidence identified of Israel–Palestine-specific corporate political spending, state partnership, Israeli state ownership, anti-BDS funding, public promotion of the FIDF grant, or policy specifically addressing IDF-related charities, settlement organizations, or Palestinian charities. The absence finding is bounded: itemized PAC disbursements and lobbying returns were not comprehensively reviewed.5, 21

No public evidence identified of a named PayPal branch, contract, reseller, subsidiary, or facility physically located in an Israeli settlement. The document-scoped review found no PayPal mention in specified OHCHR, UN, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Al-Haq, Who Profits, PAX, BankTrack, and BDS materials; that does not establish absence from other databases or records.9, 17

Named Entities and Evidence Map

BDS-1000 Score

Method: V6.5.

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military0.000.000.000.00
Digital2.505.109.001.82
Economic6.506.108.005.66
Political8.007.009.008.00

Political is the maximum domain because the vetted record documents a targeted PayPal Giving Fund grant to FIDF through a company-controlled charitable vehicle that retained legal grant discretion; the underlying donor and any PayPal Inc. funding or recipient-selection decision remain unidentified.4, 5 Economic reflects the local regulated entity and repeated Israeli technology acquisitions. Digital reflects PayPal’s direct locally regulated consumer payment service, while rejecting unsupported data-residency, surveillance, and security-state framings.1, 14 The methodology is scale-free, evidence-only, and human-vetted; scores are fixed and do not convert unverified allegations or absence findings into confirmed conduct.

Methodology Note

Footnotes

  1. https://www.paypal.com/il/legalhub/paypal/useragreement-full?locale.x=en_IL ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  2. https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2008-01-28-PayPal-Agrees-to-Acquire-Fraud-Sciences-Ltd ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2021-03-08-PayPal-to-Acquire-Curv ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. https://www.paypalobjects.com/marketing/web/PPGF/US/2024_PPGF_Form_IRS_990_for_public_inspection.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  5. https://www.paypalobjects.com/marketing/web25/us/paypal-giving-fund/policy-updates/ppgf-us-donor-terms-12112024.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  6. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065088/000106508815000186/ebay10-qq22015.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  7. https://investor.paypal-corp.com/news-and-events/news-details/2026/PayPal-to-Acquire-Cymbio-Accelerating-Agentic-Commerce-Capabilities/default.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  8. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1633917/000163391726000082/pypl-20260630.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  10. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1633917/000163391726000024/pypl-20251231.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  11. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1633917/000201238326002851/xslSCHEDULE_13G_X02/primary_doc.xml ↩

  12. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1633917/000119312526145721/d59508ddef14a.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  13. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1633917/000163391726000024/exhibit2101subsidiarylistf.htm ↩ ↩2

  14. https://www.paypal.com/il/cshelp/article/israel-legal-entity-migration---frequently-asked-questions-faqs - help1373?locale.x=en_IL ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  15. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=HB9TZG9QB842C ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  16. https://7amleh.org/post/palestinian-exclusion-from-the-digital-economy-en ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/59/23 ↩ ↩2

  18. https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2022-03-05-paypal-ceo-dan-schulman-message-ukraine ↩ ↩2

  19. https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/NGOACTIONNEWS_080623.pdf ↩

  20. https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/paypal/privacy-full?locale.x=en ↩ ↩2

  21. https://s205.q4cdn.com/210152132/files/doc_downloads/2025/Political-Engagement-and-Transparency-Policy.pdf ↩ ↩2