INDEX / DIRECTORY / VISA

Visa

Payments & Fintech 84 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-07-26
BDS-1000 Score 168 /1000 E Tier E - Limited
Military ↗ 0.00 Digital ↗ 0.05 Economic ↗ 2.28 Political ↗ 1.96

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BDS-1000 Dossier: Visa Inc.

Key Findings

  • Economic: Visa’s Israel exposure is channeled through brand-licensing relationships with Israeli-owned card issuers - Cal (Israel Credit Cards), Isracard, and Leumi Card - rather than direct equity ownership, with Cal’s parent Israel Discount Bank documented as financing West Bank settlements including Beitar Ilit, Alfei Menashe, Ariel, and Mishor Adumim.12
  • Digital/Corporate footprint: Visa’s Cal franchisee operates offices in Modi’in Illit, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, and Visa ran an Innovation Studio and R&D outpost in Tel Aviv from 2015 through at least 2019–2020, whose current operating status is unconfirmed.345
  • Political: Visa, together with Mastercard and American Express, terminated online card-donation processing for Al-Haq and other Palestinian NGOs in 2018 following allegations later disputed by UN human-rights experts as lacking due process, and Visa has issued no public statement on the Israel-Gaza war comparable to its named 2022 Russia-operations suspension.678
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of any military, defence-contracting, or surveillance-technology relationship between Visa and Israeli state or defence bodies, and Visa does not appear in the UN OHCHR settlement-business database or the UN Special Rapporteur’s “economy of genocide” report.91011

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameVisa Inc.
JurisdictionDelaware, United States (incorporation); no public evidence identified of Israeli incorporation or dual domicile12
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States12
SectorGlobal payments-network operator (card-payment technology and transaction processing)
OwnershipPublicly traded, NYSE: V; no controlling parent or individual shareholder; institutional holders (Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street) hold shares as index/universal owners1312
Key Executives / GovernanceCEO Ryan McInerney; Chair John F. Lundgren; directors include Lloyd A. Carney, Kermit R. Crawford, Francisco Javier Fernández-Carbajal, Ramon Laguarta, Teri L. List, Denise M. Morrison, Pamela Murphy, Linda J. Rendle, Maynard G. Webb Jr., and Bill Ready; no public evidence identified of defence-board roles, Israeli defence-industry directorships, or FIDF/JNF donations attributed to any named principal141315
Israeli-Nexus SummaryIndirect exposure via brand-licensing to Israeli card issuers (one of which is settlement-linked through its bank parent) and a 2015–2020 Tel Aviv fintech innovation studio; no direct military, surveillance, or settlement-construction nexus identified

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

Visa Inc. is a U.S.-incorporated, San Francisco–headquartered global payments-network operator with no manufacturing, logistics, or physical-goods supply chain, a structural feature that narrows its possible Israel/Palestine exposure relative to defence, technology-infrastructure, or retail companies. Across all four domain audits - military, digital, economic, and political - the consistent finding is that Visa does not appear by name in any of the principal civil-society or UN accountability instruments tracking corporate involvement in Israeli settlement activity or military operations: the OHCHR settlement-business database, the UN Special Rapporteur’s “economy of genocide” report, Who Profits, and AFSC Investigate all returned no Visa profile.910111920

The strongest documented vector is economic and structural rather than transactional: Visa’s card network in Israel is licensed to Israeli-owned issuing banks - Cal (Israel Credit Cards), Isracard, and Leumi Card - rather than operated by a Visa-owned subsidiary.1162 Cal’s controlling shareholder, Israel Discount Bank, is documented by Who Profits as providing financing to West Bank settlements including Beitar Ilit, Alfei Menashe, Ariel, and Mishor Adumim, and Cal itself maintains an office in Modi’in Illit, a West Bank settlement.1175 This is a brand-licensing and network relationship with a settlement-linked financial institution, not a direct contractual relationship between Visa Inc. and settlement infrastructure, and Visa Inc. holds no disclosed direct ownership stake in any of the three issuers.16

A second, smaller-scale vector is Visa’s technology-scouting presence in Tel Aviv: an R&D outpost opened in 2015 and relaunched as the Visa Innovation Studio in February 2018, which partnered with a series of Israeli fintech startups and made one confirmed equity investment (Behalf, 2018).341218 This activity is best characterised as commercial fintech-ecosystem engagement; no evidence connects it to Unit 8200, the IDF, or defence-linked startups, and its current (2024–2026) operating status could not be confirmed.2122

On the political axis, the most consequential documented episode is Visa’s 2018 termination - alongside Mastercard and American Express - of online credit-card donation processing for Al-Haq and other Palestinian NGOs, following advocacy alleging ties to the PFLP; UN human-rights experts later condemned a related 2021 Israeli government “terrorist” designation of the same organisations as lacking due process.62378 Visa has issued no corporate statement on the Israel-Gaza war or the ICJ Advisory Opinion, in contrast to its explicit, named 2022 suspension of Russia operations - a documented asymmetry in corporate response, not itself an allegation of complicity.242526

What is NOT supported by the evidence is any military, defence-contracting, surveillance-technology, or direct settlement-construction relationship. No public evidence identified of Visa contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Shin Bet, or Mossad; no dual-use or tactical product variants (Visa’s products are not applicable to this category); no Israeli data-centre operations; no Project Nimbus participation; and no named appearance in any UN or NGO accountability list.27282930 These absences, combined with the modest scale of the documented licensing and innovation-studio relationships, drive the resulting score: BRS 168, Tier E (Minimal) - the lowest severity band, reflecting a documented but attenuated, indirect, and largely non-military nexus.

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
May 2015Visa opens an R&D/scouting outpost in Herzliya as part of the “Visa Europe Collab” programme, staffed from a WeWork office.1218
June 2018Visa, Mastercard, and American Express terminate online credit-card donation processing for several NGOs, including Al-Haq, following advocacy from UK Lawyers for Israel alleging PFLP ties.67
February 2018Visa formally relaunches its Tel Aviv presence as the Visa Innovation Studio.34
August 2018Visa invests in Israeli small-business-financing startup Behalf via its Tel Aviv studio - the sole confirmed Israeli equity investment identified.18
July 2018Zooz, an Israeli payments startup that had participated in Visa’s Tel Aviv cohort, is acquired by PayU (Naspers) for ~$80 million; Visa holds no ownership role in the transaction.3132
September 2019Additional Israeli fintech firms join the Visa Innovation Studio partnership programme.3033
September 2021Visa and Mastercard are reported to continue processing donations to the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network via the Alliance for Global Justice after Discover Card severs ties; post-2021 status unconfirmed.34
October 2021Israel’s Ministry of Defense designates Al-Haq and five other Palestinian human-rights organisations “terrorist organizations”; UN experts condemn the designation as lacking due process.2335
March 2022Visa suspends all operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine - a named corporate statement with no documented Israel-Gaza equivalent.2425
c. 2022–2023Bank of Israel–driven ownership-separation reforms require Bank Discount to divest its stake structure in Visa Cal, part of a broader banking-antitrust separation trend.16

Corporate Overview

Visa Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated, San Francisco-headquartered public company (NYSE: V) with no controlling parent and a globally diversified institutional shareholder base.1312 It has no Israeli-incorporated subsidiary of its own; instead, its Israeli market presence runs through two distinct structures. First, brand-licensing relationships: Visa-branded cards in Israel are issued and acquired by Israeli-owned financial institutions - Cal (Israel Credit Cards Ltd.), owned by Israel Discount Bank (72%) and First International Bank of Israel (28%); Isracard; and Leumi Card - none of which Visa Inc. owns directly.1162 Cal holds a registered facility, “Visa Facilities Center Ltd.,” in Bnei Brak, and operates additional offices in Ashdod and in Modi’in Illit, a West Bank settlement.175 Second, an innovation/technology-scouting footprint: the Tel Aviv Innovation Studio on Rothschild Boulevard, part of a global Visa innovation-centre network spanning San Francisco, Miami, Singapore, Dubai, São Paulo, London, Berlin, and Stockholm, functioning as a startup-partnership and scouting office rather than a production or defence-linked R&D facility.123637 No public evidence identified of a registered “Visa Israel Ltd.” tax or permanent-establishment entity, of Israel-specific headcount disclosure by Visa itself, or of Israeli government equity, board appointees, or critical-infrastructure designations attaching to Visa Inc.36

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of any contract, tender, or memorandum of understanding between Visa and Israel’s Ministry of Defence, the IDF, the Israel Prison Service, or the Israel Border Police; Visa does not appear in the SIBAT Defense and HLS Directory.2829 Visa’s product line - a payments network - is not applicable to dual-use hardware, heavy machinery, munitions, or defence-prime supply-chain categories, and no evidence places Visa in any of these categories.2729 The only identified indirect thread is the brand-licensing relationship with Cal, whose historical co-owner Bank Leumi (prior to divestment structuring) is documented by Who Profits and AFSC Investigate as operating branches and ATMs in West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements including Ma’ale Adumim, Kiryat Arba, Modi’in Illit, Beitar Illit, Ramot Eshkol, and Katzrin.13839

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Visa’s business model - network operation rather than manufacturing or export of controlled goods - places nearly the entire military-domain checklist outside its possible activity. The Bank of Israel has driven a separation of Visa Cal from Bank Leumi’s ownership structure, and the post-separation status of any residual settlement-linked exposure through Cal’s current owners was not independently confirmed.16 No dedicated NGO investigation (Who Profits, AFSC Investigate, PAX) specifically targets Visa’s defence relationship with Israel, and no organised boycott campaign targets Visa on military grounds specifically.28138

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Cal (Israel Credit Cards) - Visa-branded card issuer, historically linked to Bank Leumi/Israel Discount Bank ownership.12 Bank Leumi Le-Israel - named in the OHCHR settlement-business database for banking/financial services, with documented settlement-area branch operations.13839 No named Visa executive or director carries a documented defence-board role or FIDF affiliation.141315

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

Visa’s core infrastructure runs on US-headquartered data centres (Ashburn, Denver), the UK (London), Singapore, and South Africa, with no Israeli data-centre operations identified.40 Visa’s cloud partnerships (Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform) are with US-headquartered providers; no evidence connects Visa to Project Nimbus, the $1.2B Israeli government cloud contract with AWS/Google Cloud.41 Visa’s biometric card programme sources fingerprint-sensor technology from Swedish and French vendors (Fingerprint Cards AB, Thales, Gemalto, IDEMIA); no Israeli-origin biometric or surveillance vendor appears in the supply chain.42

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

No public evidence identified of any relationship between Visa and Israeli-origin cybersecurity/surveillance firms (Check Point, CyberArk, SentinelOne, Wiz, NICE Actimize, Verint, Claroty). Visa does not appear in the Who Profits or AFSC Investigate databases, nor in the OHCHR settlement-business database or UN Special Rapporteur reports, which instead name cloud, weapons, and surveillance firms such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Palantir, Elbit Systems, NSO Group, and Cellebrite.9111920 Visa’s Tel Aviv R&D/Innovation Studio, its only confirmed Israeli technology footprint, is not documented as connected to any Israeli state, military, or intelligence body.321

Named Entities and Evidence Map

CAL (Credit Cards for Israel Ltd.) - Visa’s Israeli franchisee, owned by Israel Discount Bank (72%) and First International Bank of Israel (28%); offices in Bnei Brak, Ashdod, and Modi’in Illit (a West Bank settlement).1175 Israel Discount Bank (CAL’s parent) - documented by Who Profits as financing West Bank settlements including Beitar Ilit, Alfei Menashe, Ariel, and Mishor Adumim.1 Behalf - sole confirmed Israeli startup investment via Visa Innovation Studio Tel Aviv (2018).18

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

Visa’s Israel-facing economic activity centres on (a) brand-licensing fee flows from Israeli card issuers and (b) the Tel Aviv innovation-studio/fintech-partnership programme (2015–2019/2020 confirmed activity), not on direct capital investment, acquisition, or agricultural/goods sourcing.123637 Visa made no confirmed Israeli acquisitions; Zooz, an Israeli startup in its Tel Aviv cohort, was instead acquired by PayU with no Visa ownership role.3132 No public evidence identified of Visa underwriting or purchasing Israel Bonds, or of itemised Israel/Palestine-specific Visa Foundation grants.434445

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Visa does not manufacture, sell, or label physical goods, making “Produce of Israel”/settlement-mislabeling scrutiny structurally inapplicable.12 Visa’s public segment reporting groups Israel under its broad CEMEA region with no country-specific revenue disclosure, and the inference that licensing fees flow outward from Israeli-issued card volume to the U.S. parent is a structural inference, not a documented figure, and should be treated as unconfirmed.12 Visa is not named in the OHCHR settlement-business database (2020/2023/2025 iterations), the UN Special Rapporteur’s July 2025 report, or Al-Haq/B’Tselem/SOMO/BankTrack/BDS Movement target lists.91019464748

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Cal (Israel Credit Cards Ltd.) - brand licensee, no Visa equity ownership.116 Isracard and Leumi Card - additional Israeli-owned Visa-branded issuers.243 Zooz, Prontoly, PayItSimple, MyCheck - early (2015) Tel Aviv studio partner startups.1237 Bank of Israel - regulator driving 2022–2023 ownership-separation reforms affecting Visa Cal.16

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

Visa’s most significant documented political-domain finding is the June 2018 termination of card-donation processing for Al-Haq and other NGOs, following UK Lawyers for Israel advocacy alleging PFLP ties - action that predates and is legally separate from Israel’s October 2021 “terrorist organization” designation of the same groups, which UN human-rights experts condemned as lacking due process.623735 Visa is an active federal lobbying filer (OpenSecrets) and PAC donor ($669,000 in the 2023–2024 cycle), with no lobbying disclosure specifically referencing Israel-Palestine policy or anti-boycott legislation identified.4950 Visa was named, via shared third-party sponsorship of the State Financial Officers Foundation, alongside Israel Bonds as a co-sponsor of the same organisation - an indirect co-sponsorship linkage, not a documented direct financial relationship.51

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Visa is not named among the 158+ entities in the UN OHCHR settlement-business database, and no legal challenge, regulatory action, or organised boycott/divestment campaign targets Visa specifically over Israel-Palestine conduct.104647 No public evidence identified of Visa-specific HR actions over pro-Palestinian employee speech, of government-official hosting or “Brand Israel” sponsorship, or of executive personal donations to FIDF/JNF-type organisations.12 Whether Visa’s card-donation channel to Al-Haq or comparable organisations remains blocked today is unconfirmed in the available research - the 2018 action is documented, but its current status is not.7

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Al-Haq - Palestinian human-rights organisation whose card-donation processing Visa terminated in 2018.67 UK Lawyers for Israel - advocacy group whose complaint preceded the termination.6 State Financial Officers Foundation / Israel Bonds - shared third-party sponsorship linkage, not a direct Visa–Israel Bonds relationship.51 No named Visa executive or board member carries a documented Israel-Palestine public statement, CFI/AIPAC/CUFI affiliation, or personal FIDF/JNF donation.1413

BDS-1000 Score (V4)

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military0.000.000.000.00
Digital1.501.001.500.05
Economic5.803.505.502.28
Political5.003.505.501.96

Economic is the maximum domain, driven by the documented brand-licensing relationship with a settlement-financing bank’s card-issuer subsidiary and the multi-year Tel Aviv innovation-studio presence - real but indirect and non-controlling activity. Political contributes the second-highest score, anchored by the 2018 Al-Haq donation-processing termination and the absence of any public Israel-Gaza corporate statement. Military registers zero and Digital registers near-zero, reflecting the complete absence of any military or defence-technology relationship, yielding a composite BRS of 168 and the lowest severity band, Tier E (Minimal), under the scale-free Impact × magnitude/proximity method.

Methodology Note

End Notes

Footnotes

  1. https://investigate.afsc.org/company/bank-leumi-le-israel ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isracard ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. https://nocamels.com/2018/02/visa-innovation-studio-tel-aviv/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. https://www.timesofisrael.com/credit-card-giant-visa-opens-israeli-rd-center/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. https://www.reveliolabs.com/companies/israel-credit-cards/employees ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. https://ngo-monitor.org/visa-mastercard-and-american-express-shut-down-online-credit-card-donations-for-terror-linked-ngos/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  7. https://www.uklfi.com/credit-card-donations-to-terrorist-linked-ngos-terminated ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  8. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/visa-mastercard-called-upon-to-cut-ties-with-palestinian-terror-funding-643546 ↩ ↩2

  9. https://www.ohchr.org/en/business/bhr-database ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

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

  11. https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5923-economy-occupation-economy-genocide-report-special-rapporteur ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  12. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1403161/000140316125000089/v-20250930.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  13. https://s29.q4cdn.com/385744025/files/doc_downloads/2024/Visa-2025-Proxy-Statement.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  14. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1403161/000130817924000807/v4356611_def14.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230410005336/en/Visa-Inc.-Elects-Pam-Murphy-to-its-Board-of-Directors ↩ ↩2

  16. https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/banking-and-finance/article-720683 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  17. https://rocketreach.co/cal-israel-credit-cards-profile_b5cef7b6f42e099e ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  18. https://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2018/Visa-Invests-in-Behalf-to-Support-Small-Business-Financing/default.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  19. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/results ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  20. https://investigate.afsc.org/updates/un-list ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/40085 ↩ ↩2

  22. https://nocamels.com/2019/09/visa-tlv-partners-3-israeli-fintech-firms/ ↩

  23. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/10/un-experts-condemn-israels-designation-palestinian-human-rights-defenders ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  24. https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.18871.html ↩ ↩2

  25. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/06/visa-mastercard-suspend-operations-in-russia-a76784 ↩ ↩2

  26. https://www.paymentsdive.com/news/visa-mastercard-and-paypal-suspend-operations-in-russia/619927/ ↩

  27. https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2025/7/3/un-expert-calls-on-world-to-end-trade-with-israels-economy-of-genocide ↩ ↩2

  28. https://paxforpeace.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/The-Companies-Arming-Israel-and-Their-Financiers-June-2024.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  29. https://www.sibat.mod.gov.il/Industries/directory/Pages/default.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  30. https://www.timesofisrael.com/four-startups-join-visas-innovation-center-in-tel-aviv/ ↩ ↩2

  31. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-payu-buys-israeli-payments-technology-co-zooz-for-80m-1001247101 ↩ ↩2

  32. https://corporate.payu.com/news/payu-acquires-israeli-payment-technology-provider-zooz/ ↩ ↩2

  33. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3863973,00.html ↩

  34. https://freebeacon.com/national-security/discover-card-cuts-ties-with-palestinian-terror-linked-organization/ ↩

  35. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1103982 ↩ ↩2

  36. https://www.northdata.com/Visa%20Facilities%20Center%20Ltd%C2%B7,%20Bne%20Brak/ICA-514360049 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  37. https://officesnapshots.com/2018/04/10/visa-innovation-centre-tlv-offices-tel-aviv/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  38. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/3790 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  39. https://www.opensanctions.org/entities/ohchr-1503f0dad276fba28b696354326de1fac907e4a7/ ↩ ↩2

  40. https://www.datacenters.com/providers/visa-inc ↩

  41. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Nimbus ↩

  42. https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/newsroom/press-releases.releaseId.15401.html ↩

  43. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-823353 ↩ ↩2

  44. https://corporate.visa.com/en/sites/visa-foundation/corporate-grants.html ↩

  45. https://www.instrumentl.com/990-report/visa-foundation ↩

  46. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session59/advance-version/a-hrc-59-23-aev.pdf ↩ ↩2

  47. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1/un-report-lists-companies-complicit-in-israels-genocide-who-are-they ↩ ↩2

  48. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_operating_in_West_Bank_settlements ↩

  49. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000029689 ↩

  50. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/visa-inc/C00365122/candidate-recipients/2024 ↩

  51. https://sfofexposed.org/israel-bonds/ ↩ ↩2