Political Audit: Siemens

Siemens - Political Audit

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

On October 22, 2023, Siemens was one of 106 German corporations that co-signed a full-page newspaper advertisement titled “Never again is now,” stating that signatories “condemn Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel” and “see with horror the suffering of civilians in Israel and Gaza,” while standing “against all forms of hatred and antisemitism” ¹. Responding to 2023 boycott allegations, Siemens spokesperson Florian Martini stated the company has “been active in Israel for around 60 years in various business areas and are deeply rooted there” ²³. On Russia/Ukraine, Siemens issued an explicit condemnation on May 12, 2022 - “We condemn the war in Ukraine and have decided to carry out an orderly process to wind down our industrial business activities in Russia” - and executed a multi-year wind-down of roughly 170 years of Russian operations under sanctions compliance ⁴. No equivalent condemnation, wind-down, or heightened-risk disclosure specific to Israel/Palestine operations was identified; instead, Siemens continued and expanded its Israel contracts through and after 2023–2024 ⁵⁶⁷, a documented asymmetry in posture between the two conflicts. Siemens’ own materials frame its Israel operations as a long-standing “ecosystem” and technology partnership rather than routine market activity: Siemens Israel CEO Zahi Golan described the Germany-Israel relationship as “1+1 equals at least 3,” citing headquarters access to Israeli startups and technology in exchange for global market reach, with Siemens Israel described as touching “all worlds” - industry, infrastructure, transport, medical, and software ⁶. Siemens dates its Israeli market entry to a 1924 sales office and describes 60 years of continuous “active” operation in its own 2023 public statement ²⁶.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Who Profits and AFSC documented Siemens traffic control systems (2009, 2010, 2015) on Road 5, Road 443, and Road 1 in the occupied West Bank - roads from which Palestinians are barred - including at the entrance to the Mishor Adumim settlement industrial zone, distributed via Israeli representative RS Industries; Siemens states its Intelligent Traffic Systems unit was “carved out” in July 2021, and the current status of this product line under Siemens ownership post-carve-out is unclear ⁸⁹. Siemens holds a 2017/2018 contract for 330 electric railway cars on the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem “A1” fast rail line (later expanded to 834 cars, roughly $1 billion/€900 million in value), with a maintenance facility in Israel and options extending to 2046; the trains entered service in December 2021 on a route that “crosses the Green Line into the occupied West Bank in two areas” and is described by campaigners as “aimed exclusively for Israelis” ⁸⁹⁵. A further order for 81 additional Desiro HC units was signed in January 2024, after the October 7, 2023 war onset, continuing and expanding the contract during active hostilities ⁷. Siemens contracted Extal, an aluminum-parts manufacturer located in the Mishor Adumim settlement industrial zone, for roughly $4 million in components for the rail project, a relationship reportedly facilitated by Israel’s Ministry of Economy in 2019 as part of Siemens’ obligation to reciprocally invest 20% of the rail contract’s value in the Israeli economy; the current 2023–2024 status of this relationship could not be independently confirmed ⁸⁹. Via Israeli representative Orad Group, Siemens fire detection, extinguishing, and perimeter-security systems have been supplied and maintained at Israel Prison Service facilities including Gilboa prison, which holds Palestinian political prisoners, under successive contracts spanning 2012–2017, 2018–2020, a sole-supplier designation from January 2021 through the end of 2023, and a further maintenance/installation tender won by Orad in December 2022 ⁸⁹¹⁰. Siemens has been named preferred/selected contractor for HVDC converter stations on the Greece–Cyprus–Israel EuroAsia/Great Sea Interconnector, whose Israel leg campaigners state will extend to Israel’s unified national grid including West Bank settlements ^8911121314; the project was reported paused or frozen as of 2025–2026 amid financing disputes with cable contractor Nexans and a Greek government suspension, with the Israel-leg timeline undetermined as of mid-2025 ¹²¹⁵. In response to a 2026 civil-society inquiry, a Siemens representative reportedly characterized the interconnector as a “Siemens Energy” project - a legally distinct, separately listed entity since the 2020 spin-off - implying arm’s-length distancing from Siemens AG ¹⁶. Siemens Digital Industries Software licenses (Teamcenter, Solid Edge, FLOEFD) are distributed in Israel through McKit Systems, a subsidiary of Israeli defense-tech firm Malam Team, whose client list since 2013 has included the Israeli Ministry of Defense, IDF, Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems, and RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems; the Israeli Ministry of Defense acquired or renewed Siemens software licenses valued at a minimum of $1 million between November 2023 and June 2024, during the active Gaza campaign ⁹. Siemens fully owns Siemens Mobility Ltd., Siemens Ltd., and at least seven other Israel-domiciled entities, along with a 23% stake in Reindeer Energy Ltd., a gas-fired power joint venture with Phoenix Insurance in central Israel ⁸¹⁷¹⁸. No court judgment, sanction, or formal regulatory finding against Siemens specifically for occupied-territory operations was identified; Siemens is not confirmed as appearing on the UN OHCHR 2020 settlement-business database of 112 companies based on available secondary reporting, though direct line-by-line primary confirmation was not obtained ¹⁹, and a direct search of the 2025 Albanese report found no reference to Siemens ²⁰. Siemens is a named BDS Movement corporate target over the EuroAsia/Great Sea Interconnector and Israel Railways contracts ²¹¹¹, and activists shattered the glass front of Siemens’ Cambridge, UK office on October 17, 2024, citing the company’s inclusion on “the official BDS list” and its “technological infrastructure” role in Israel ²²²³. Al-Haq separately documented an episode in which Siemens was among European/North American rail manufacturers that withdrew from a Jerusalem Light Rail-related tender crossing East Jerusalem, though the timing relative to Siemens’ subsequent 2018 rail contract win is unclear in available sourcing ²⁴. Siemens’ documented response to these campaigns has combined denial of the Turkish-boycott allegation with general assertions of “heightened due diligence” without disclosed methodology ¹⁶². Separately, German broadcaster SWR and the Zachor Legal Institute alleged in February–June 2023 that Siemens signed a 2018 contract (€341–360 million, 10–12 high-speed trains) with Turkish state railway TCDD containing a clause requiring compliance with Organization of Islamic Cooperation boycott regulations, reportedly a financing condition of Saudi Arabia’s Islamic Development Bank ²³²⁵; Siemens spokespersons Florian Martini and Wolfram Trost denied signing any boycott declaration, and Arizona’s State Treasurer and the New York Comptroller’s office both confirmed reviewing the allegations under state anti-BDS statutes, with no public finding of a violation identified ²³²⁵.

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

No public evidence identified of Siemens HR action - termination, suspension, or discipline - against employees for pro-Palestinian speech, symbols, or union activity. The October 2024 Cambridge protest and the 2026 Didsbury for Palestine campaign were external activist actions directed at Siemens sites, not internal employee-relations disputes ^22231626. No public evidence identified of algorithmic moderation, content suppression, or editorial-stance controversies involving Siemens, consistent with its status as an industrial, infrastructure, and software company rather than a consumer content platform ²⁶. No public evidence identified of product labeling or country-of-origin disputes specific to Siemens consumer retail goods sourced from Israel or the settlements. The settlement-linked supply-chain findings identified in this audit concern industrial contracting - Extal aluminum components, Orad-distributed fire and security systems, and McKit-distributed PLM software - rather than labeled retail products ⁸⁹¹⁰.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

No public evidence identified of Siemens using military heritage or defense-sector ties in current commercial branding or public relations. Historically, Siemens and Siemens-Schuckert manufactured armaments - grenade fuses, machine-gun parts, aircraft engines - during World War I and electrical equipment for the German armed forces from late 1943, and operated a factory using forced labor at Monowitz near Auschwitz during World War II, a period Siemens’ own published corporate-history archive documents rather than conceals ²⁷²⁸. Siemens’ current defense-adjacent activity is confined to commercial software licensing to defense-sector clients rather than heritage-based marketing ⁹. No public evidence identified of Siemens hosting Israeli government officials, forming non-commercial partnerships with Israeli state academic or governmental institutions, or sponsoring Israeli state-backed cultural or PR campaigns such as “Brand Israel.”

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

Siemens AG and Siemens Corp maintain an active US federal lobbying presence tracked by OpenSecrets, with lobbying totals recorded annually since 1998 ²⁹; Siemens Corp PAC raised $241,331 and Siemens Energy PAC raised $89,710 in the 2023–2024 federal election cycle ³⁰³¹. No public evidence identified of a specific bill, lobbying report, or PAC disbursement tying Siemens to Israel-policy, anti-boycott, or Middle East trade legislation in the available OpenSecrets summary data ²⁹³⁰³¹. No public evidence identified of Siemens or a Siemens Foundation making donations to FIDF, JNF/KKL, Lev Echad, Israeli reservist funds, settlement organizations, Regavim, Im Tirtzu, or other military-welfare bodies. No public evidence identified of Siemens directing free services, cloud credits, logistics, or infrastructure specifically to Israeli state, military, or state-aligned NGO efforts during the active Gaza conflict, distinct from the ordinary commercial rail and software transactions documented elsewhere in this audit ⁵⁷⁹. Didsbury for Palestine, a UK civil-society group, conducted approximately one year of letters, leafleting at a Siemens UK site, and requests for dialogue through at least February 2026, grounded in ICJ, Amnesty International, HRW, B’Tselem, and UN findings, seeking dates, methodology, and copies or summaries of Siemens’ human-rights due diligence specific to the occupied territories ¹⁶. A Siemens representative identified as “Fenwick” stated the company was “applying heightened due diligence,” but D4P’s published analysis concluded Siemens’ responses “do not meet the standards of transparency, specificity, or due diligence disclosure” required under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and that Siemens provided no assessment of whether its software-licensing activity was compatible with its UN Global Compact commitments; no in-person meeting had been granted as of the most recent February 2026 letter ¹⁶.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Siemens, originally Telegraphen-Bau-Anstalt von Siemens & Halske, was founded October 1, 1847 by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske as a private telegraph and electrical-equipment manufacturing firm, becoming a limited partnership in 1890 and a stock corporation (Siemens & Halske AG) in 1897 ²⁷. No evidence identified of a state-held golden share, a state-directed founding charter, or a primary corporate mission explicitly tied to advancing a state’s geopolitical goals as distinct from standard commercial enterprise; Siemens’ documented WWI/WWII armaments production was wartime and regulatory-driven manufacturing activity rather than a stated foundational mandate ²⁷²⁸. Siemens AG’s corporate group includes legally distinct, separately listed entities spun off from the parent - Siemens Healthineers (2018) and Siemens Energy (2020) - plus Siemens Mobility as an operating unit, and Siemens has reportedly invoked this separation to characterize EuroAsia/Great Sea Interconnector activity as belonging to Siemens Energy rather than Siemens AG in response to civil-society inquiries ¹⁶. No independent verification was obtained of which specific legal entity holds the converter-station contract. No public evidence identified in citable primary-source filings confirming the precise Siemens family shareholding percentage or foundation structure underlying the Siemens Shareholder Pool.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

No public evidence identified of personal donations, family-foundation grants, or fundraising by Siemens CEO Roland Busch, Supervisory Board Chairman Jim Hagemann Snabe, or the von Siemens family toward Israel-related advocacy groups, parastatal organizations, or military-welfare funds. Siemens issued a corporate statement condemning the war in Ukraine in connection with its 2022 Russia wind-down ⁴. No public evidence identified of a comparable statement from Busch or Snabe specifically condemning, characterizing, or taking a position on Israeli conduct in Gaza or the West Bank, an asymmetry that mirrors the corporate-level communications pattern identified above. No public evidence identified of Siemens founders, executives, or board members holding personal board seats, leadership roles, or advisory positions in CFI, AIPAC, ADL, USISTF, or comparable pro-Israel/anti-BDS advocacy organizations.

End Notes