Does Blackstone support Israel?

Funds managed by Blackstone led Cyera's $400 million Series F round, announced on 8 January 2026, which tripled the data-security company's valuation in a year to $9 billion; existing investors including Accel, Coatue, Cyberstarts, Lightspeed, Redpoint, Sapphire and Sequoia Capital also took part. Cyera is headquartered in New York and lists a Tel Aviv office on its own site, and the announcement carries a quote from Vishal Amin and Yifat Oron, the head of its Israel office. Amount note: the $400 million is the size of the whole round, not Blackstone's own cheque, which was not disclosed, and the round was led by funds Blackstone manages for investors rather than by the firm's own balance sheet; the $9 billion is a valuation, not money paid. This is a commercial investment, not a donation or a statement of support.

Blackstone and Phoenix Financial (TASE: PHOE), which Blackstone's release describes as the largest asset manager in Israel with more than $180 billion under management, announced a strategic partnership on 17 December 2025 in a joint release datelined Tel Aviv and New York. The two will collaborate across corporate, real-estate and asset-based credit strategies, and Phoenix will invest up to $5 billion across those strategies using Blackstone's global credit origination. Amount note: the $5 billion is Phoenix's own capital, committed on behalf of its Israeli clients into strategies Blackstone manages — money Blackstone would administer, not money Blackstone gives or commits — so no amount is recorded against Blackstone. Jon Gray, Blackstone's President and COO, said the firm was pleased to further support Phoenix and its clients. This is a commercial partnership, not a donation.

Jonathan Gray, Blackstone's President and Chief Operating Officer, and his wife Mindy gave $125 million personally to Tel Aviv University's medical and health sciences faculty — the largest gift in that school's history, after which it was renamed the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. The couple told The New York Times that the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack moved them to give, and the gift is expected to help double the number of Arab Israeli students in the medical school while addressing Israel's shortage of doctors. Attribution note: this is the Grays' own money, not Blackstone's and not the Blackstone Charitable Foundation's, so no amount is recorded against the company; it is listed here because the donor is Blackstone's president.

Blackstone Growth and affiliated funds agreed to acquire a majority stake in Priority Software, an Israeli business-software and ERP provider, in an announcement Blackstone datelined Tel Aviv on 16 May 2024. Existing investors TA Associates and Fortissimo Capital rolled their stakes. Blackstone's release says Priority has more than 17,000 customers, over 300,000 end users and 500-plus employees across five offices in Israel, the United States and Belgium, and it quotes Yifat Oron, Blackstone's Senior Managing Director and head of its Israel office. Blackstone disclosed no price, so no amount is recorded. This is an acquisition — commerce, not a donation or a statement of support.

In an internal company-wide email on October 11, 2023 (not a public announcement — Blackstone was not expected to publicize it), CEO Stephen Schwarzman and President Jonathan Gray committed approximately $7 million for Israel humanitarian relief: a $3 million contribution from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, $1 million each personally from Schwarzman and Gray (about $2 million total), and approximately $2 million already committed by other senior partners personally. The email suggested Magen David Adom, United Hatzalah of Israel and UJA-Federation of New York to employees who wished to give personally. Attribution note: only $3 million of the $7 million is corporate/foundation money — the remaining approximately $4 million is personal giving by executives and partners, not the corporation. Amount field: $3 million, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation's contribution, which is the only part of the pledge that is the company's own money.

Blackstone opened its own office in Israel, announcing on 25 April 2021 that it had hired Yifat Oron, formerly chief executive of LeumiTech, as a Senior Managing Director and head of the firm's new Tel Aviv office, to lead its growth and technology investments in Israel for Blackstone Growth. Blackstone's website still describes her as head of its office in Tel Aviv and credits her with the firm's investments in the Israeli companies Priority Software and Stampli. A permanent office is a business presence in Israel, not support for it.

Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone's co-founder, chairman and chief executive, gave $10 million personally to the National Library of Israel, reported on 8 February 2018 as his first major donation in the country. The money funds the Stephen A. Schwarzman Education Center at the library's new Jerusalem campus, built next to the Knesset: a multi-purpose space for up to 100 people for classes, lectures and performances, three separate activity and workshop spaces, and technology to connect with peers in Israel and abroad. The Arabic report that surfaced this record (Dunia al-Watan, citing Sky News Arabia and the Associated Press) adds that Schwarzman would fund classes and educational workshops intended to strengthen inclusion and cultural relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Attribution note: this is Schwarzman's personal philanthropy, not Blackstone's money and not the Blackstone Charitable Foundation's, so no amount is recorded against the company.