Military Audit: Siemens

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

Between November 2023 and June 2024 - spanning the period after 7 October 2023 and continuing through the Gaza war - the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) acquired or renewed licences for Siemens software, including Teamcenter, Solid Edge, FLOEFD, and unspecified “modifications and enhancements,” in contracts listed in an IMOD disclosure database and totalling at least $1 million; the database covers only unclassified, non-tendered awards, so actual total IMOD procurement of Siemens products is understood to be larger ¹². These licences are distributed via McKit Systems, a subsidiary of Israeli defense-tech firm Malam Team, which has listed IMOD, Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems among its clients since 2013 and is described as an official IMOD supplier and a services provider to the Israel Police, the IDF, and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) ¹³. In 2012, McKit sponsored an Israeli military-technology conference at which Siemens PLM software was introduced to Israeli military officers and soldiers, and the distribution relationship is confirmed ongoing as of mid-2024 based on the contract data described above ¹. Siemens’ documented role in Israeli defense procurement is as a software and technology supplier into IMOD rather than as a listed Israeli defense exporter ¹². No public evidence identified.

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

Siemens’ product lifecycle management (PLM) software suite - Teamcenter for data/lifecycle management, Solid Edge for CAD, and FLOEFD for fluid-dynamics simulation - is used by the Israeli military and arms industry, via the McKit/Malam Team channel, “to optimize their weapon production lines” ¹². This is civilian-market engineering software licensed for defense-sector end-use rather than a distinct ruggedised or mil-spec “tactical variant” hardware line marketed to Israeli security forces ¹². No public evidence identified of publicly disclosed export-licence applications or end-user certificates specifically covering Siemens software sales to IMOD, Elbit Systems, IAI, or Rafael. No public evidence identified.

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

Siemens won a 2018 tender from state-owned Israel Railways to supply electric rail cars for the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem “A1” fast train, a contract valued at approximately NIS 4 billion (~$1.1 billion) - NIS 3.2 billion for wagons, NIS 230 million for a maintenance depot, and roughly NIS 400 million for maintenance services - covering 60 train sets (about 330 cars, ~33,000 seats), later expanded to 834 cars with an option to extend to 2046 ²⁴⁵⁶. The trains entered service in December 2021, and Who Profits documents that the A1 route crosses the Green Line into the occupied West Bank at two locations, with tracks partially built on privately-owned Palestinian land, for a transportation project “aimed exclusively for Israelis” ². Israel Railways placed a further firm order for 81 additional Siemens Desiro HC double-deck EMUs under the 2017 framework contract, reported on 8 February 2024 as part of a €1.7 billion rolling-stock procurement alongside a separate Alstom order - meaning new Siemens-related orders continued after 7 October 2023 and before the ICJ’s 19 July 2024 advisory opinion ⁷⁴. Separately, Who Profits documented Siemens traffic-control equipment in 2009, 2010, and 2015 on Road 5 and Road 443 in the occupied West Bank and at the entrance to the Mishor Adumim settlement industrial zone on Road 1 ²; Siemens divested its Intelligent Traffic Systems division in July 2021, which now operates as Yunex Traffic under the Mundys/Atlantia group ¹². Siemens’ Israeli representative for that division, RS Industries, separately won a 2014 Jerusalem Municipality tender for maintenance of the Levi Eshkol tunnel (Road 60) and the Har HaTzofim tunnel, both located beyond the Green Line ². In a February 2024 statement, Siemens said it “did not supply, install, or maintain traffic control systems for use on roads in the occupied territories” ². Siemens contracted Extal Ltd, an aluminium-profile manufacturer based in the Mishor Adumim settlement industrial zone, for $4 million of aluminium parts as part of a reciprocal-procurement obligation requiring 20% of the rail contract value to be reinvested in the Israeli economy, an arrangement reportedly initiated by Israel’s Ministry of Economy in 2019 ⁸; Extal is listed among 158 companies in the UN Human Rights Office’s settlement-activity database and separately holds supply relationships with IAI and Rafael ⁸. Siemens is reported as the preferred/lead contractor for constructing the converter stations of the Great Sea Interconnector (formerly EuroAsia Interconnector), a Greece–Cyprus–Israel subsea power link whose cable works were awarded to Nexans ⁹¹⁰. BDS Movement and Who Profits assert the project would extend to and benefit Israeli grid infrastructure serving West Bank settlements via the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC), whose network “includes and benefits - by design - the illegal Israeli settlements” ²¹¹⁹; as of mid-2025 the project’s works were reported “frozen” amid financing and geopolitical disputes, an unresolved rather than cancelled status ⁹¹⁰.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

Siemens PLM software - Teamcenter, Solid Edge, and FLOEFD - is licensed to Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems via the McKit Systems/Malam Team distribution channel, a client relationship confirmed ongoing since 2013 ¹³. Siemens Digital Industries Software operates a formal Xcelerator Academy training location on Rafael’s own premises in Haifa, indicating an institutionalized training and engagement relationship rather than merely arms-length licensing ¹². No public evidence identified of Siemens supplying physical components, sub-systems, optical systems, armour materials, propulsion components, or guidance/fire-control electronics to Elbit, IAI, or Rafael; all identified supply in the sources reviewed is software/PLM tooling rather than hardware sub-systems ¹³¹². No public evidence identified of joint development, co-production, or technology-transfer/licensed-manufacturing agreements between Siemens and any Israeli defense prime.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of Siemens service contracts - catering, transport, fuel, waste management, or facilities/telecoms maintenance - to IDF bases, training facilities, or detention centres, beyond the Israel Prison Service fire-safety contracts documented under Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms and Civil Society Scrutiny below ¹³¹⁴¹⁵. No public evidence identified of Siemens shipping, freight-forwarding, or port-handling contracts servicing Israeli military cargo or arms shipments, as distinct from routine commercial logistics. No public evidence identified of Siemens service provision specifically to installations in the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, or the Negev, beyond the A1 rail line’s documented West Bank routing and the discontinued traffic-control and tunnel-maintenance work already described ².

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence identified of Siemens acting as a prime contractor or licensed manufacturer of small arms, artillery, armoured vehicles, tactical drones, or naval vessels for Israeli forces; a review of Israel’s Medium Robotic Combat Vehicle (M-RCV) program identified BL Advanced Ground Support Systems, the IMOD Tank & APC Directorate, Elbit Systems, IAI, and Rafael as developers, with no Siemens connection found. No public evidence identified of Siemens supply of ammunition, explosive ordnance, propellants, or munitions precursor materials to Israeli end-users. No public evidence identified of Siemens involvement - manufacture, integration, maintenance, or component supply - in the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, or Arrow missile-defence systems, whose confirmed suppliers are Rafael, IAI, RTX/Raytheon, and Boeing. No public evidence identified of Siemens supply of guidance electronics, fire-control systems, radar components, propulsion units, or warhead casings to Israeli strategic platforms. Through Israeli representative Orad Group, Siemens fire detection/alarm and extinguishing systems were maintained for the Israel Prison Service (IPS) under a sequence of contracts: 2012–2017 maintenance services; 2018–2020 annual maintenance and repair; and a 2020/2021 to end-2023 sole-supplier maintenance, repairs, and modifications contract, with a further December 2022 tender won by Orad for fire/smoke detection and automatic gas fire-extinguishing system maintenance and installation across IPS units ¹³¹⁴. Orad separately supplied a range radar, control system, and night-vision system to Ktziot Prison, which holds Palestinian administrative detainees ¹³¹⁵. This is carceral security/detection equipment rather than a lethal weapons system, but falls within the audit’s carcerality scope ¹³¹⁴¹⁵; No public evidence identified of contract renewal or termination since December 2023, so current status for 2024–2026 is unconfirmed.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

No public evidence identified of a formal OECD National Contact Point complaint filed against Siemens specifically concerning Israel/Palestine ¹⁶. German and Israeli media reported that Siemens signed a contract with Turkish State Railways, financed via a $360 million Islamic Development Bank loan, containing a “sworn declaration” clause committing Siemens and its subcontractors to comply with Organization of Islamic Cooperation/Arab League/African Union boycott regulations regarding Israel; this prompted scrutiny from the office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, whose pension fund holds Siemens investments, under state anti-BDS divestment statutes, and Siemens officially denied the allegations ^17181920. Between 1999 and 2005, Siemens allegedly bribed senior Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) executives to win turbine-supply contracts during a period in which Israel purchased over $650 million in Siemens gas turbines; six former IEC officials were indicted in May 2016, five of whom were convicted of bribery, fraud, breach of trust, and money laundering and sentenced to 28–49 months in a plea deal ²¹²²²³. Siemens itself paid NIS 160 million (~$42.7 million) in a 2016 settlement with Israeli prosecutors to avoid securities-fraud charges, with total related payments - including a separate ~$17 million Siemens Israel plea-deal figure reported by Calcalist - reportedly exceeding $88 million (NIS 310 million) ²⁴²⁵. A full-text review of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s report “From economy of occupation to economy of genocide” (A/HRC/59/23, 2 July 2025) found that Siemens is not named anywhere in the document ²⁶. Cross-checking the Times of Israel’s published complete list of the 112 companies named in the original February 2020 OHCHR settlement-business database found that Siemens does not appear on that list, and no subsequent OHCHR database update naming Siemens was located ²⁷²⁸. Siemens AG’s shareholding structure includes periodic transfers of its residual Siemens Energy AG stake to the Siemens Pension-Trust - 6.8 percent in one transaction and a further 8 percent in another - corporate-structure disclosures reviewed for this audit that contained no Israel- or defence-related content ²⁹³⁰. A separate UN Special Procedures communication record for “Siemens AG,” dated approximately 12 March 2021, concerns Xinjiang labour-supply-chain allegations rather than Israel/Palestine and falls outside this audit’s scope ³¹. No public evidence identified of any government decision by the US, UK, EU, or Israel to grant, deny, suspend, or revoke an export licence specific to Siemens products destined for Israeli military/security end-users. No public evidence identified of court proceedings or judicial review specifically challenging Siemens’ Israel defense/settlement supply relationships.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

Who Profits maintains the most detailed public dossier on Siemens, covering the A1 rail line, the discontinued traffic-control business, IPS fire-safety contracts via Orad, PLM software licensing to IMOD/Elbit/IAI/Rafael via McKit, and the Great Sea Interconnector ². AFSC Investigate republishes and synthesizes comparable findings, explicitly framing the November 2023–June 2024 IMOD software contracts as occurring “during the Gaza genocide,” an AFSC advocacy characterization rather than a neutral descriptor ¹. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre maintains a dedicated Siemens company-tracking page and republished an 80-plus-NGO report exposing companies profiting from settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem ³²³³. The Don’t Buy Into Occupation (DBIO) coalition of 25 Palestinian, regional, and European NGOs named Siemens among 51 companies with settlement-linked activity in its 2023 and November 2024 (“DBIO IV”) reports, identifying European financial institutions - including BNP Paribas, HSBC, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Société Générale - as among the largest creditors across the full 51-company set, though company-specific Siemens creditor breakdowns were not isolated in the sources reviewed ³⁴³⁵³⁶. BDS Movement launched a formal boycott/divestment call against Siemens, jointly with Chevron, on 6 October 2022, citing the EuroAsia/Great Sea Interconnector’s role in supplying Israeli grid infrastructure and “fuelling apartheid and climate disaster,” and calling for termination of the interconnector involvement ³⁷¹¹. Al-Haq’s historical advocacy is credited, alongside other pressure, with contributing to Siemens’ withdrawal from bidding on the Jerusalem Light Rail Green Line extension, on the basis that the line “connects Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land, fragments Palestinian land, and restricts free movement of Palestinians”; the Green Line tender was ultimately won by the Shapir/CAF-led “Saphir” consortium in August 2019 ³⁶. Local UK campaign activity has also targeted Siemens: “Didsbury for Palestine” (Manchester) issued demands to Siemens plc regarding OPT-linked business activity, reported 21 May 2026 ³⁸, and a separate protest occurred at Siemens’ Cambridge office on 17 October 2024, organized by pro-Palestine activists opposing what campaigners termed Siemens’ contribution to “Israel’s genocide” ³⁹. In a February 2024 reply to a Who Profits inquiry, Siemens stated that “an internal and external legal review at the time came to the conclusion that this transaction was in line with our human rights due diligence obligations,” that “potential new business activities will be subject to another comprehensive human rights due diligence review, particularly about international humanitarian law,” and that the company was “carefully monitoring current developments in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank” ². On traffic control specifically, Siemens denied ever supplying, installing, or maintaining such systems “for use on roads in the occupied territories,” a claim that appears to conflict with Who Profits’ documented 2009/2010/2015 field observations on Road 5, Road 443, and Road 1; this discrepancy remains unresolved in the sources reviewed ². Siemens CEO Roland Busch publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and announced an orderly wind-down of Siemens’ industrial business activities in Russia ⁴⁰; by contrast, in May 2026 public remarks on the Israel–Iran war, Busch’s comments were confined to commercial/economic impact - “Growth is throttled because of price increases… investments are slowing down” - with no comparable moral condemnation or announced business wind-down regarding Israel, an asymmetry in public positioning noted here as an observed fact rather than a conclusion ⁴¹. No public evidence identified of any institutional divestment decision by a pension fund or sovereign wealth fund specifically citing Siemens’ Israel-linked defense or settlement activity, distinct from the New York State Comptroller’s anti-BDS regulatory review, which did not result in divestment action per the sources reviewed ¹⁷¹⁹.

End Notes