Stephen McDermott

ONE OF IRELAND’S sovereign wealth funds increased the value of its shareholdings in companies linked to activities in occupied Palestinian territory by almost €1.5 million last year.

The latest annual report from the National Treasury Management Agency shows that the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) directly invested in five companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements to the value of €6.7 million in 2025.

The companies were accommodation platforms Airbnb and Booking Holdings, the French telecoms company Altice, the security company Motorola Solutions and Germany construction components company Heidelberg Materials.

Last year’s figure compared to €5.3 million invested in five companies linked to illegal settlements in 2024, and €2.1 million invested in similar companies in 2023.

The five companies are listed on an updated United Nations database that names 158 businesses and parent companies that enable the continued existence of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment vehicle that is generally funded by a country’s surplus reserves.

The ISIF has a mandate to invest around €16 billion in State capital in commercial entities to support economic activity and employment in Ireland.

The NTMA report shows that the ISIF invested €660,000 in accommodation platform Airbnb in 2025, up from €440,000 in 2024 and from €310,000 in 2023.

The company, one of just 20 non-Israeli companies on the new database, has listed properties that are based in settlements in the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

It is named on the UN database because it is deemed to provide “services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements” because its lists properties to rent in occupied territories.

Airbnb has previously said it donates all profits from listings in the occupied West Bank to “non-profit organisations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world”.

The ISIF also invested €2.31 million in Altice France in 2025, up from €862,000 it invested in Altice International 2023. 

The company was founded by French-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi in Luxembourg in 2001, and provides internet, phone and television services throughout Europe, the United States, Israel and within occupied Palestinian territories.

It is the parent company of the Israeli mobile phone and telecoms providers Hot Mobile and Hot Telecommunication Systems.

Through both companies, settlers in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights can access mobile phone services, cable television, landline phone services and broadband. 

It is listed on the UN database for providing “services and utilities” that support the maintenance and existence of settlements, as well as the use of natural resources in settlements for business purposes.

The government had divested its shares in Altice International in 2024, but invested in its French subsidiary again last year. 

Ireland’s wealth fund also invested approximately €1.14 million in accommodation platform Booking Holdings in 2025, down from €1.53 million the previous year.

Like Airbnb, the parent company of Dutch-based Booking.com is named on the list for providing “services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements” because its platform lists properties to rent in occupied territories.

The website features a notice that urges visitors to “review any travel advisories provided by your government to make an informed decision about your stay in this area, which may be considered conflict-affected”.

The ISIF invested €360,000 in German construction materials company Heidelberg Materials in 2025, up from approximately €100,000 in 2024.

The company did not feature on the previous version of the UN database, so has not been named in previous coverage of the wealth fund’s investments in companies linked to activity in territories occupied by Israel.

However, it was subsequently named on the updated database published in September of last year, after it was deemed by the UN to be using natural resources, including water and land, for business purposes in occupied territories.

Its subsidiary Hanson Israel was also named on the new database.

In a statement released after it featured on the database, Heidelberg Materials said neither it nor Hanson Israel were active in occupied territories and that it believed their inclusion was “not justified”.

The ISIF also invested €2.23 million in Motorola Solutions last year, down slightly from €2.35 million in 2024, but still a huge increase on the €700,000 it held in the company 2023.

The compay’s Israeli subsidiary has been criticised by the United Nations and human rights groups for its treatment of Palestinians in illegal settlements.

It features on the database for supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements, and for supplying security services, equipment and materials to enterprises operating in settlements.

In 2012, a report by the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Richard Falk said that Motorola Solutions Israel supplied surveillance systems, radar detectors and mobile communications systems to settlements.

Human rights groups have also highlighted how the company’s MotoEagle Wide Area Surveillance System – which uses radars and cameras to detect movements – has been used as a “virtual fence system” in dozens of illegal settlements. 

The company has previously told a number of outlets that it supports “efforts in the region to find a peaseful resolution to the conflict”.

The ISIF also divested shares from French transport multinational Alstom, a company that was mentioned on a previous version of the UN database, last year.

The wealth fund held approximately €1.53 million in investments in the company in 2024, but did not retain any of these holdings in 2025, when the UN also removed it from its updated database.

Separately, the NTMA report showed that the ISIF tripled its shareholdings in Palantir in 2025.

The Peter Thiel-owned company has been criticised for its role in the genocide in Gaza because it has provided software and AI tools to the Israel Defence Forces to assist with military intelligence.

Ireland’s sovereign wealth fund increased its shareholding in the company to €3.34 million in 2025, up from €950,000 in 2024.

The move was last week criticised by Sinn Féin TD Mairéad Farrell, who said it was “wrong” that Ireland is profiting from shares in the company.

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