Israel shifts bond approvals to Luxembourg after Irish backlash

Luxembourg’s financial regulator has become the European authority approving Israel’s sovereign bond sales, after Ireland stepped back from the role amid growing public opposition to the war in Gaza, which some UN experts and human rights organisations have described as genocidal.

Israel’s latest prospectus for government bond issuance published on Monday was approved by Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) and not by the Central Bank of Ireland.

The CSSF’s role, as defined in the document, is limited. The prospectus notes that the regulator “only approves this prospectus as meeting the standards of completeness, comprehensibility and consistency imposed by the prospectus regulation.”

It adds that such approval “should not be considered an endorsement of the issuer or of the quality of the bonds.”

The proceeds obtained by Israel from the sale of these bonds are to be used for “the general financing purposes of the issuer,” the document notes.

“The Central Bank’s approval of the 2024 prospectus will expire today, 1 September 2025. Accordingly, from 2 September 2025, it will not be possible for the state of Israel to offer bonds under the 2024 prospectus,” Irish Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf told The Irish Times.

The new document, he added, had been approved by Luxembourg’s regulator. There has been no official statement from the CSSF or the Luxembourg government on the matter.

The Irish decision followed months of public protests and political pressure. Activist groups like the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) had called on the Central Bank to stop what they described as financial complicity in Israeli war crimes.

Ireland’s government – unlike Luxembourg – in May last year officially recognised Palestinian statehood.