{"id":613770,"date":"2026-09-04T02:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613770\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T02:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:38:20","slug":"why-is-irelands-central-bank-facing-pressure-again-over-the-sale-of-israeli-bonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613770\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is Ireland’s Central Bank facing pressure again over the sale of Israeli bonds?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ISRAELI STATE BONDS are back in the news after the Central Bank was asked to clarify<\/a> whether it is once again approving their sale.<\/p>\n

The Irish regulator was responsible for approving the bonds for European investors since 2021, before Luxembourg took up the role in September 2025.<\/p>\n

But since the arrangement between Israel and Luxembourg\u2019s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) expired on Tuesday, questions have been asked about whether the responsibility has shifted back to Ireland\u2019s Central Bank.<\/p>\n

That has proved controversial in the past, with Irish opponents describing the loans as \u201cwar bonds\u201d because they claim the bonds have been used to finance Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still unclear which EU member state, if any, is now approving Israel\u2019s bonds in Europe.\n<\/p>\n

What are Israel Bonds?<\/p>\n

We should probably start by explaining what a bond is.<\/p>\n

In simple terms, bonds are massive IOUs issued by governments or companies when they want to borrow money from investors.<\/p>\n

Investors lend the bond issuer money for a set period, and usually receive interest in return before the original sum is repaid when the bond matures.<\/p>\n

Government bonds are generally considered relatively low-risk investments because sovereign governments are less likely to default than many private borrowers \u2013 although they are not risk-free.<\/p>\n

The bonds themselves are issued by the State of Israel and marketed under the Israel Bonds name by the official underwriter, which is called the Development Company for Israel.<\/p>\n

On the Israel Bonds website<\/a>, the bonds are described as a financial instrument that supports \u201cIsrael\u2019s economic development\u201d and as \u201ca direct and impactful way to invest in support of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

Are they \u201cwar bonds\u201d?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s slightly complicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWar bonds\u201d are a very specific form of bond that are sold during wartime as a way to finance a country\u2019s war effort \u2013 like Ukraine did<\/a> when Russia invaded in 2022.<\/p>\n

Israel Bonds are not ring-fenced to fund the Israel Defence Forces or the country\u2019s war on Gaza; for example, its\u00a02025 US prospectus said<\/a> that the net proceeds of the debt that is issued would be used \u201cfor general purposes of the State\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Israel has borrowed more heavily<\/a> since the war in Gaza broke out, and it\u2019s logically impossible to claim that \u201cgeneral purposes of the State\u201d doesn\u2019t include military spending.<\/p>\n

The distinction has become even more murky since 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and the latter responded by launching a full-scale war in Gaza that a UN Commission of Inquiry has since concluded amounts to genocide.<\/p>\n

Israel Bonds has explicitly marketed the bonds by reference to the war, including a notice on its website<\/a> in the early stages of the conflict that it had received \u201cover $200 million in bond sales and commitments from investors since the war began\u201d.<\/p>\n

The organisation that sells the bonds also published an appeal from Israeli president Isaac Herzog saying that Israel Bonds had a \u201ccrucial role\u201d during the period of \u201cconflict and war\u201d, urging supporters to continue buying them.<\/p>\n

So while Israel Bonds are not \u201cwar bonds\u201d in the traditional, ring-fenced sense, they provide general financing to the Israeli state at a time of sharply increased military spending \u2013 and have explicitly been marketed by reference to the war.<\/p>\n

\"gaza-city-gaza-strip-palestine-september-1-2026-palestinians-inspect-damage-at-the-site-of-an-israeli-strike-in-the-tel-al-hawa-neighborhood-of-gaza-city-one-palestinian-was-killed-and-others-we\"
\n Palestinians inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City this week Hashem Zimmo \/ JNA Press via Nexpher Images<\/p>\n

Hashem Zimmo \/ JNA Press via Nexpher Images \/ JNA Press via Nexpher Images\n<\/p>\n

Where does Ireland\u2019s Central Bank come into it?<\/p>\n

The role of the Central Bank has made Israel Bonds of particular interest to Ireland.<\/p>\n

To offer bonds to the public across the EU, an issuer such as Israel generally needs a prospectus approved by the competent regulator in its EU \u201chome Member State\u201d.<\/p>\n

In practice, that doesn\u2019t mean the issuer is based there.<\/p>\n

A non-EU issuer like Israel can generally choose the Member State where it first offers the bonds or seeks to have them admitted to trading, making that country\u2019s regulator its \u201chome\u201d authority for the prospectus.<\/p>\n

Israel previously had its bonds approved for the European market in the UK, but after Brexit, this moved to Ireland under the supervision of the Central Bank.<\/p>\n

Ireland effectively became the regulatory gateway into the EU market for Israel Bonds, even though most of the bonds were being marketed and bought elsewhere.<\/p>\n

After the war in Gaza broke out, pro-Palestinian groups portrayed this process as the Irish Central Bank having an indirect role in the funding of Israel\u2019s war.<\/a><\/p>\n

There have been multiple protests outside Central Bank HQ and calls from opposition politicians for the regulator to stop approving Israel Bonds since.<\/p>\n

The Central Bank has said its remit doesn\u2019t give it the scope to make morality calls on bond sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the regulator only approved Israel\u2019s bond prospectus, which is basically the financial instrument used to sell bonds on Israel\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

The criteria used to judge bond prospectus documents do not cover the morality of the transaction; they only look at it to see if the prospectus complies with risk and financial guidelines.<\/p>\n

And that means the Central Bank had to approve the prospectus under EU rules if it complied with those guidelines \u2013 even if the money ended up being used to fund the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n

To use an analogy, the Central Bank\u2019s role is a bit like performing an NCT on a vehicle: it can check whether a car meets a set of technical requirements, but allowing the car to pass the test says nothing about where its owner intends to take it or how they\u2019ll drive it.<\/p>\n

For the past year, the approval process has moved to Luxembourg, but Luxembourg only agreed to oversee the approval of the Israeli prospectus until 1 September.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s been happening this week?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s now confusion whether the process has reverted to Ireland, because we are designated as Israel\u2019s \u2018home member state\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Currency reported earlier this week<\/a> that it doesn\u2019t look like anyone in Europe is approving the Israeli prospectus since 1 September.<\/p>\n

Queries from The Journal to the Central Bank, the Department of Finance, Luxembourg\u2019s financial regulator and the Israeli finance ministry did not result in any clarity either.<\/p>\n

The European Markets and Securities Agency, which oversees the EU\u2019s securities regulatory framework, also said it not had\u00a0received any notification about \u201ca possible transfer of approval relating to a new State of Israel prospectus\u201d in 2026.<\/p>\n

When responsibility transferred to Luxembourg a year ago,\u00a0the prospectus explicitly said the move was valid for 12 months.<\/p>\n

Analysts pointed out<\/a> that approval would then default to Ireland as Israel\u2019s home member state in the EU; the Central Bank had transferred responsibility for approving the 2025 prospectus to Luxembourg, rather than permanently transferring Ireland\u2019s underlying role.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s application for approval of its prospectus would have needed to be made to Ireland by the end of August, so it\u2019s entirely possible the Central Bank knows more than it\u2019s letting on.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson told The Journal\u00a0earlier this week that the regulator is \u201cbound by statutory professional secrecy obligations\u201d which meant it could not disclose information \u201crelating to live supervisory matters\u201d.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t to say that Israel\u2019s prospectus is being approved here either \u2013 but responses like that mean calls for clarity on the issue, as there have been this week, are a bit more pressing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ISRAELI STATE BONDS are back in the news after the Central Bank was asked to clarify whether it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[128,4505,3970,176,97,61,60,3410,43,4268,260267],"class_list":["post-613770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-bonds","tag-central-bank","tag-explainer","tag-finance","tag-gaza","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-war-in-gaza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}