Registry
Does Harman support Israel?
Harman International
Harman does business in Israel — we found records of its operations there, but no record of donations, aid, or a public statement of support. Every claim below links to its source.
Filed under: Tech companies · Car & automotive brands · Household & consumer goods brands · Companies that support Israel
Background
Harman International — maker of JBL, Harman Kardon, AKG and Bang & Olufsen car audio, and a large automotive electronics supplier — has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics since Samsung's $8 billion acquisition closed in March 2017, and it is consolidated in Samsung's results rather than reporting separately. Its Israeli footprint is commercial and engineering: three Israeli acquisitions between 2013 and 2016 (iOnRoad, Red Bend, TowerSec) that were merged into a single Israeli headquarters in Hod Hasharon in 2018. No corporate donations by Harman to the Israeli government, military or to Israeli causes are on record, and no statement of political support was found; the parent company's own Israeli record is documented separately on the Samsung page.
Wikipedia — Harman International HARMAN newsroom (Israel headquarters)
Timeline of documented records
Documented records
| Type | Date | Amount | Recipient | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquisition | 2013-04-10 | — | iOnRoad Technologies (Israeli driver-assistance app developer, Tel Aviv / Ramat Gan) Harman acquired the Israeli advanced driver-assistance company iOnRoad, developer of an augmented-reality driving app with collision and lane-departure warnings and winner of the 2013 Qualcomm QPrize. Financial terms were not disclosed; Israeli trade press reported a few million dollars. The deal was Harman's first Israeli purchase and its team became part of Harman's Israeli engineering base. | |
| Acquisition | 2015-01-22 | $170,000,000 | Red Bend Software (Israeli over-the-air software-update company, Hod Hasharon) Harman agreed to acquire the veteran Israeli company Red Bend Software, the leading provider of firmware-over-the-air update and mobile virtualisation software, in a transaction valued at $170 million — about $99 million in stock and $71 million in cash (Globes headlined it at $200 million, counting a further $30 million of milestone performance payments to the sellers by 2017). Red Bend's Hod Hasharon operation became the core of Harman's connected-car software work in Israel. | |
| Acquisition | 2016-01-05 | — | TowerSec (Israeli automotive cybersecurity company, Kfar Saba) Harman announced the acquisition of TowerSec, an Israeli automotive cybersecurity company with R&D in Kfar Saba and a US office in Ann Arbor. Harman did not disclose the price; Globes reported market estimates of $70-75 million and a later Israeli court case over the transaction referred to a $75 million deal. TowerSec's ECU-protection technology was folded into Harman's connected-car security portfolio and its Kfar Saba team into Harman Israel. | |
| Operations in Israel | 2018-10-29 | — | HARMAN Israel headquarters, Hod Hasharon Harman — by then a wholly owned Samsung subsidiary — opened a 46,000-square-foot, three-storey Israeli headquarters in Hod Hasharon, consolidating its R&D sites in Kfar Saba, Hod Hasharon and Ramat Gan (the former TowerSec, Red Bend and iOnRoad teams) and adding an Advanced Smart Car Lab for cybersecurity, over-the-air updates and automotive cloud. Then-CEO Dinesh Paliwal, speaking at the Smart Mobility Summit hosted by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israeli innovation plays 'an instrumental part' in Harman's connected-vehicle strategy, and the company said it was continuing to hire senior engineers in Israel. Harman still runs automotive engineering in Hod Hasharon and recruits there. |
Frequently asked questions
Did Harman donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?
We have no records of donations. What is on record is commercial activity in Israel (Acquisition, Operations in Israel), which is not the same as support — see the records on this page.
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. 12 distinct sources are cited for Harman. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.
Sources & citations
Record last updated: 2026-09-25
- HARMAN newsroom (press release) news.harman.com
- Israel High-Tech & Investment Report ishitech.co.il
- HARMAN newsroom (press release) news.harman.com
- Harman International 8-K exhibit 99.2 (SEC) sec.gov
- Globes en.globes.co.il
- HARMAN newsroom (press release) news.harman.com
- Globes en.globes.co.il
- Calcalist / CTech calcalistech.com
- HARMAN newsroom (Israel headquarters) news.harman.com
- Times of Israel timesofisrael.com
- HARMAN careers (Israel job listing, Wayback Machine archive) web.archive.org
- Wikipedia — Harman International en.wikipedia.org