Registry · COST
Does Costco support Israel?
Costco Wholesale Corporation
We have not yet found publicly recorded donations from Costco. Absence of records does not confirm absence of support.
Filed under: Retail & supermarket chains · Companies that support Israel
Background
Costco has no recorded donations, statements, or operations supporting Israel. The company has no warehouses in Israel; when Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich formally invited Costco to enter the Israeli market in February 2023, no public response or market entry followed. Even the pro-Israel tracker Lev Haolam concludes Costco has taken no stance and describes it as "largely neutral." Costco has no corporate PAC, and the Costco Foundation is an employee-hardship fund (funeral, disaster, and financial-hardship assistance for Costco employees) that makes no external grants. In 2010, Costco stopped carrying Ahava Dead Sea cosmetics — made in the Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem — after a customer letter-writing campaign, without commenting on the reason. Some boycott lists include Costco because it stocks Israeli-linked products such as Sabra hummus and SodaStream; that is product stocking, not corporate support.
Globes Times of Israel Lev Haolam (pro-Israel tracker) The Forward (2010 Ahava)
What we checked
- News & official statements — 2026-07-20
- Nonprofit tax filings (Form 990) — 2026-07-20
- SEC filings — 2026-07-20Full-text search of Costco filings (CIK 909832) for "israel": 3 hits, all 11-K employee benefit-plan filings (2013, 2018, 2019) where the mention is a 401(k) plan stock holding ("CyberArk Software Ltd/Israel"); no Israel operations, investments, or donations in filings.
- Federal election records (FEC) — 2026-07-20FEC committee search for "Costco" returns no committees; the company has no corporate PAC and therefore no PAC disbursements to pro-Israel committees.
- Independent fact-checkers — 2026-07-20No Snopes/Reuters/AFP fact-check of any Costco-Israel donation claim exists — no viral donation rumor to debunk. Boycott-adjacent lists cite only product stocking (Sabra hummus, SodaStream) as ties; the pro-Israel tracker Lev Haolam likewise reports Costco has no stance and no Israel presence.
- usaspending — 2026-09-24Queried the USAspending.gov award API on 2026-09-24 for US federal contracts, grants and other awards to this company whose award text mentions Israel. It returned no awards.
- lobbying — 2026-09-24Searched the US Lobbying Disclosure Act database at lda.gov on 2026-09-24 for filings naming this company as the client whose reported lobbying issues mention Israel. No filings matched.
- ohchr — 2026-09-24Checked the UN OHCHR database of business enterprises involved in activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, report A/HRC/60/19, on 2026-09-24. This company is not listed in it.
- whoprofits — 2026-09-24Searched the Who Profits company index on 2026-09-24 — the research centre that documents corporate involvement in the Israeli occupation. This company has no profile there.
Frequently asked questions
Did Costco donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?
No records found. We searched 9 public source types — news and official statements, nonprofit tax filings, SEC filings, and federal election records — and found no donations from Costco. The dated search log on this page shows exactly where we looked.
Where does this information come from?
Every record on this page links to its source — news reports, official company statements, tax filings, or government records. 4 distinct sources are cited for Costco. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.
Sources & citations
Record last updated: 2026-09-24
- Globes en.globes.co.il
- Times of Israel timesofisrael.com
- Lev Haolam (pro-Israel tracker) levhaolam.com
- The Forward (2010 Ahava) forward.com