The Central Bank of Ireland’s (CBI) ability to sell and approve Israeli State bonds, or, as many have dubbed them, “war bonds” due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, expires today, the first of September, 2025. Today, Israel officially moved its bond prospectus approval process to Luxembourg, meaning that CBI will no longer be used to approve Israeli bonds.
Before this change, CBI was the designated authority on the sale of Israeli Bonds in the European Union and was responsible for determining whether the bonds met EU standards. Throughout their time as the designated authority on Israeli bonds in the EU, CBI claimed that it was required to approve prospectuses that met standards. However, many politicians and activists have criticised CBI’s facilitation of these war bonds.
In a press release on August 7th, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) wrote, “Do Not Renew on September 2. As the genocidal Israeli regime continues to bomb, bludgeon, shoot and starve Palestinians to death, the Central Bank of Ireland, disgracefully, continues to rubber-stamp the sale of Israeli genocide bonds throughout the European Union.”
In a Dáil Éireann debate on “Ending the Central Bank’s Facilitation of the Sale of Israel Bonds” Social Democrat Cian O’Callaghan T.D. urged the Dáil to “advise the CBI that it is acting in violation of the Genocide Convention, by facilitating the sale of Israel Bonds in the European Union (EU)” and further “advise the CBI that by acting as the enabling cog in Israel’s fund-raising machine in the EU it is putting the State at risk of a charge of complicity in genocide”. These sentiments have been echoed by many other activist networks and politicians (notably from Sinn Féin, who officially called to end approvals and were rejected), and have escalated to occupations of CBI, protests, and open calls. However, officials have consistently insisted that CBI was bound by EU law.
On the news that CBI would no longer facilitate Israeli war bonds, in a statement on Instagram, IPSC said, “Apartheid Israel’s genocide bonds will not be facilitated by Ireland any more! Well done to all the tireless campaigners for this victory. Over to our colleagues in Luxembourg now to get the sale stopped there.”
Now, Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier will be the approving authority for Israel Bonds in the EU, ending CBI’s role in war bonds.
This is a developing story.
