Some of the United States’ biggest banks have underwritten billions of dollars in Israel bonds, including a substantial amount of $8 billion (£6.4 billion) in March this year, despite US colleges and university campuses witnessing massive pro-Palestinian protests.
The Tel Aviv regime received $8 billion in bond underwriting from four major banks situated on Wall Street.
The banks involved in this underwriting are BNP Paribas, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs.
Additionally, Citigroup’s Citibank serves as the fiscal agent, paying agent, transfer agent, and registrar for these bonds.
The banks’ move came amid the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests and encampments at educational institutions throughout the US, which have rocked the country and escalated into violent crackdowns against demonstrating students.
Wall Street banks are not the sole providers of funding to Israel, as per a recent US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing by Israel, the US has committed to providing financial support as well.
The filing on the State Department website said: ‘Israel receives military assistance from the United States and has received economic assistance from the United States averaging approximately $3 billion per year since 1987, including by way of loan guarantees.
‘In 2016, the United States and Israel reached an agreement on a package of at least $38 billion (£ 30 billion) in US military aid over the course of 10 years ($3.8 billion per year).’
‘In 2012, the US and Israel signed a deal to create a fresh structure for managing its loan guarantee program, granting Israel the potential to receive around $3.8 billion in upcoming loan guarantees from the original $9 billion (£ 7billion) pledge.
Furthermore in January 2023, the US decided to extend the program until September 2028, with the goal of providing support to Israel’s comprehensive economic programme and fostering an environment conducive to long-term, robust growth, it said.
American mega-banks have underwritten billions of dollars in Israel bonds, including a substantial amount of $8 billion (£6.4 billion) in March this year, despite US colleges and university campuses witnessing massive pro-Palestinian protests.
The website also reveals that Israel has its own broker-dealer in the US, known as the Development Corporation for Israel or Israel Bonds, which supplements bond underwriting by mega-banks on Wall Street.
The corporation also operates in Germany, England, Canada, and other countries. Global sales of Israel Bonds have surpassed $1 billion (£800 million) annually for the last four years, as stated on its website.
- Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American lawmaker in the US Congress, said in a statement: ‘I urge the ICC to swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials to finally hold them accountable for this genocide, as is obviously warranted by these well-documented violations of the Genocide Convention under international law.’
She added: ‘There is nowhere safe in Gaza. Nearly 80 per cent of the civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.
‘There is no feasible evacuation plan, and the Israeli government is only trying to provide a false pretence of safety to try to maintain legal cover at the International Court of Justice. Netanyahu knows that he will only stay in power as long as the fighting continues.
‘Many of my colleagues are going to express concern and horror at the crimes against humanity that are about to unfold, even though they just voted to send Netanyahu billions more in weapons.
‘Do not be misled, they gave their consent for these atrocities, and our country is actively participating in genocide.
‘For months, Netanyahu made his intent to invade Rafah clear, yet the majority of my colleagues and President Biden sent more weapons to enable the massacre.’
In related news, nine US senators called on the Biden administration to apply the Leahy Law against the Zionists, which prohibit sending arms to criminal regimes like Israel that violate human rights.
Senator Peter Welch wrote on social media: ‘My colleagues and I are calling for the consistent application of the Leahy Law to the Israeli forces.
‘My predecessor Patrick Leahy wrote the law that bans US aid to foreign military units that violate human rights, yet multiple administrations have failed to equally implement the law.
‘My colleagues and I are calling for the consistent application of the Leahy Law to the IDF’.
- Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, warns that the continuation of Israel’s acts of terror and genocide in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip will lead to another human disaster in the region.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone conversation with Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, on Thursday, as Israel plans to launch a long-feared all-out military offensive against Rafah, home to 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.
Amir-Abdollahian said: ‘In continuation of the “policy of terror and genocide”, the Zionist regime (Israel) is now trying to cause another human disaster in the region by closing the Rafah and Karem Abu Salim border crossings.’
He added that Israel aims to render international efforts to stop the war fruitless.
The US must exert pressure on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal, he emphasised.
Otherwise, if the US shows leniency towards the Israeli regime in committing new crimes in Rafah, the consequences will be severe for the supporters of the war, the top Iranian diplomat warned.
Amir-Abdollahian pointed out: ‘Now it is the White House that must choose between showing the will to put pressure on the Israeli regime to stop the war and dragging the region into a new and different level of crisis and tension’.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, a vital lifeline for aid to enter the territory.
Israeli officials said it was the first step towards a full-scale assault on Rafah.
- Tally Gotlive, a member of the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) threatened on Thursday to use ‘imprecise missiles’ in the war on the Gaza Strip in response to a US pause on arms transfer to Tel Aviv.
Gotlive, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party said: ‘The US is threatening not to give us precise missiles. Oh, yeah? Well, I got news for the US.
‘We have imprecise missiles, and we have the right to defend ourselves.
‘So, maybe instead of using a precise missile and take down a specific room, or a specific building, I’ll use my imprecise missiles, and I’ll just destroy ten buildings. That’s what I’ll do.’
The far-right Knesset member claimed that ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’, and ‘will use what we possess’.