The latest asset list from the Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) – which controls around £34 billion and is ultimately run by Glasgow City Council – lists a £1.24bn stake in investment manager PIMCO’s Dynamic Bond Fund.
PIMCO’s $4.6bn fund, in turn, lists two Israeli government international bonds in its portfolio.
Israel ramped up its issuance of government bonds – through which investors lend money to the state in exchange for annual interest payments and repayment of the principal on a fixed maturity date – in late 2023 in order to fund its war efforts.
Last year, a UN report said that Israeli bonds “have played a critical role in funding the ongoing assault on Gaza”.
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It said that PIMCO, a US subsidiary of German insurance and asset management group Allianz, invested almost $1bn in Israeli “war bonds” following October 2023, while Allianz also invests “large sums in shares and bonds implicated in the occupation and genocide”.
The SPF is the largest local government pension scheme in Scotland and one of the largest in Europe. It outsources the management of its investment portfolio to PIMCO, alongside around 28 other external asset managers.
The Ireland-based Dynamic Bond Fund’s records confirm it bought bonds that were worth €14.6m and $7.2m at the time of purchase from the Israeli government.
The first bond was admitted for trading on the London Stock Exchange on 30 October 2023, the second on 21 February 2025.
The latter bond was purchased by the PIMCO fund between the December 2024 annual report and the June 2025 semi-annual report.
At the beginning of 2024, the International Court of Justice issued provisional measure orders to Israel to prevent genocidal acts against Palestinians and to stop creating life destroying conditions.
In November that year, arrest warrants for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity were issued by the International Criminal Court for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) are campaigning for Ireland’s Central Bank to stop facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds.
IPSC activist Martin O’Quigley said: “The Israelis call them war bonds. They are used to finance the Israeli military.
“Under the Genocide Convention there’s an obligation on governments and civil society not to promote, finance or support genocide.”
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The Scottish Parliament voted in September 2025 to boycott Israel, with First Minister John Swinney saying: “Acknowledging that we are witnessing the signs of genocide brings with it a responsibility to act.”
PIMCO featured in a report by Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in July 2025.
Albanese described how, between 2022 and 2024, Israel’s military budget almost doubled, causing a deficit. Israel funded these rising costs by issuing government bonds.
These requests were underwritten by banks, like JP Morgan and Barclays, and corporations such as PIMCO invested.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog stated on the Israel Bonds website that investing plays a crucial role “during this time of conflict and war”.
Albanese’s report said that, following October 2023, the culpability of corporations linked to Israel’s actions in Palestine escalated, from supporting illegal occupation to enabling genocide.
She stated that the legal context removes any doubt that corporate engagement with Israel’s occupation constitutes international crimes; citing the 2024 judicial developments from the ICJ and ICC.
The SPF uses investment research provider Morningstar Sustainalytics to monitor the ethical impact of their portfolio.
Morningstar recently stopped screening for human rights abuses in occupied territories, citing concerns that their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risk ratings had an anti-Israel bias.
PIMCO did not respond to requests for comment.
The SPF confirmed they worked with PIMCO and that they understood Morningstar’s position around the difficulties of objective and reliable reporting on human rights issues related to territorial disputes.
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A SPF spokesman said: “We’re not immediately aware of any Israeli investments, but will engage with PIMCO to clarify whether it holds investments in Israel that are likely to give cause for concern.”
Glasgow councillor Anthony Carroll, from the Scottish Greens, said: “Strathclyde Pension Fund can and must be used for the public good in its investments.
“Greens secured support in 2021 to demand they divest in fossil fuels and increase investments in renewable projects.
“Now, as we see SPF’s investments to Dynamic Bond Funds linked to the Israeli government, we must see action to not have our pensions enabling an apartheid government.
“Glasgow has been long-standing in its support for Palestine, where Green councillors have been exploring any way to express that solidarity practically and ensure we are not complicit in the Israeli government’s actions.
“Greens secured a review of Glasgow City Council’s procurement to ensure we do not do business with companies on the UN’s database in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – it’s time Strathclyde Pension Fund take heed of GCC’s desire for ethical investment. Glasgow’s Green councillors will be working to ensure that they do.”
Scott Donohoe, trade union representative on the SPF Board from Unison, which campaigns for pensions divestment and assists the SPF Committee, said: “Our position is clear about ethical investment. We raised this with the board last year about divestment from companies involved in climate change and the arms trade.”
SPF-contributing employers include 12 local authorities in the west of Scotland, and many public and voluntary sector organisations.
Since October 7, 2023, when around 1200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage by Hamas-led armed militant attacks on Israel, the Palestinian death toll as a result of Israel’s response is estimated to have exceeded 75,000.
It is reported by official sources that since an October 2025 “ceasefire”, 981 Palestinians have been killed.