Exclusive – Australia’s Future Fund invests in Israeli property developers operating in West Bank

Australia’s government-owned Future Fund is potentially helping Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank, with revelations it holds stakes in property trusts of Israeli real estate companies operating in the Palestinian territory.

The Fund has more than $272m invested in Israeli companies that cover a breadth of Israel’s occupation apparatus – from property developers in illegal settlements to weapons manufacturers profiting from war, including the producer of white phosphorus (a substance banned in military operations).

The most recent investment disclosures show that the Fund has almost $10m invested in listed property holdings managed by Israeli real estate companies, including Amot Investments, Azrieli Group and Melisron. All three have built and maintained properties in illegal Israeli settlements.

Since its previous disclosure, the value of the Fund’s investment in Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems has more than doubled, from $8.7 million in December 2025 to $19.7 million in June 2026. The value of the investment has increased more than 40-fold since October 2023, when the fund’s holding was worth $488,768.

The Future Fund’s June 2026 disclosures list $9.98m in investments under the asset class “listed property” in four Israeli real estate businesses: Azrieli Group ($5.22m), Melisron ($3.12m), Amot Investments ($1.43m) and Land Development of Nimrodi Group ($209,870).

The Fund also held a further $4.06m in Azrieli Group under “listed equity”.

Amot Investments is included in the UN database of businesses involved in activities relating to Israeli settlements.

The company owns Amot Ariel, an industrial building in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. The building has since been removed from the company’s website.

Melisron built and operates a shopping centre in Ma’ale Adumim, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The settlement was established on land inhabited by the Jahalin Bedouin community, who were forcibly displaced to a site about 300m away from a large landfill that serves Jerusalem.

Azrieli Group is Israel’s largest real estate company. It owns ZMH Hammerman, a construction company that is also listed on the UN database of companies involved in illegal settlement activities.

The fourth company backed by Australian public money, the Land Development of Nimrodi Group, was originally founded by the Zionist Federation in 1909 as a tool for the acquisition of land in Palestine.

Listed property investments generally involve securities in entities or trusts which own a portfolio of properties, rather than direct ownership of individual buildings. The Future Fund’s disclosures do not establish if it directly owns any of the properties in question.

Its investments however pose a risk of exposure to Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank, in violation of international law, as Israel intensifies the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the area.

According to the UN, Israel has demolished 1,486 structures and displaced 2,139 Palestinians in the West Bank this year alone.

The value of the Future Fund’s investment in Elbit Systems has grown exponentially since the start of the Gaza genocide. In October 2023, the Fund held $488,768 worth of Elbit Systems shares – by the end of June this year, it sat at $19.7m.

The disclosures indicate the Fund purchased a further 8,000 shares in the company during that period.

The Fund clearly sees Elbit as a lucrative investment, given the company’s fortunes have risen markedly since the genocide began. On 2 October 2023, its share price sat at US$208.18. As of Wednesday, 11 November 2026, that was up to US$740.17 – a growth of 256%.

In the year the Fund doubled its investment in Elbit, the company’s net profit rose to US$534m, up from US$321m in 2024 – a 66% increase.

Elbit specifically cites Israel’s wars in the region as a key driver of its ballooning profits, suggesting the Future Fund too eyes Israel’s wars and flagrant violations of international law as a moneymaking endeavour.

“Since the commencement of the war and the escalation of conflicts in the Middle East, Elbit Systems has experienced a continued material increase in the demand for its products and solutions from the Israel Ministry of Defence compared to the demand levels prior to the war. Such increased demand may continue and could generate material additional orders to the Company,” Elbit’s quarterly report read.

Internal correspondence, released under Freedom of Information, reveals that the Future Fund discussed “messaging re Elbit” and received complaints regarding its investment in Elbit Systems.

In response to complaints, it told Australians that certain investments such as “cluster munitions, antipersonnel mines, chemical and biological weapons and some nuclear weapons” were excluded under its Responsible Investment Policy. However, these exclusions “do not apply to the technology produced by Elbit Systems”.

The Fund also holds $3.06m in ICL Group, an Israeli chemicals and minerals company that supplies white phosphorus to the US military for weapons manufacturing.

The use of white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon is a war crime, with documentation Israel has dropped the chemical on Gaza and Lebanon.

The Future Fund has holdings in four Israeli banks: Bank Leumi Le-Israel ($32.17m), Bank Hapoalim ($27.51m), Israel Discount Bank ($12.79m) and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank ($7.92m).

All four banks are listed on the UN database of companies involved in settlement activities in the West Bank.

The Fund also holds investments in Phoenix Financial ($16.52m) and Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services ($5.34m).

Both companies have financed construction projects in illegal settlements.

Last year, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund divested from five Israeli banks, citing “an unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict”.

The Future Fund’s holdings may violate international law.

The International Court of Justice ruled in a 2024 advisory opinion that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory was unlawful, which it must cease “as rapidly as possible”.

The court also found that other states were obliged “not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

Deepcut asked Future Fund whether they were aware of the illegal settlement activities of these companies and why it increased its holdings in Elbit Systems.

The Fund did not answer our questions, but a spokesperson provided the following bloviating statement:

“The Future Fund invests in accordance with its legislation and mandate, supported by long-standing exclusion, sanctions and due diligence frameworks. In line with its investment mandate, the Future Fund has a broadly diversified investment portfolio. The Future Fund invests through external managers with its exposure to publicly listed companies guided by investment indices that are widely used by investors in Australia and around the world.”

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and finance minister, Katy Gallagher, also did not respond to questions.