Registry · ZIM

Does ZIM support Israel?

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services

Support documentedupdated 2026-09-26

Yes — ZIM has documented support for Israel on record, including $7,409,000 in donations. Every claim below links to its source.

Filed under: Hotels & travel companies · Companies that support Israel

Background

ZIM is the most literal case of a company supporting Israel: it is Israel's state-chartered national carrier, and its wartime role is not rumor but government testimony. Because of that role, ZIM has been the main maritime target of the BDS movement's 'Block the Boat' port protests in Australia, the US and elsewhere, and activists have documented its vessels carrying military cargo to Israel. In 2026 the planned sale of ZIM to Germany's Hapag-Lloyd (with Israeli fund FIMI) triggered a national-security debate in the Knesset precisely because the state relies on ZIM's fleet in wartime; the golden share and its emergency obligations are set to transfer to a FIMI subsidiary under the proposed deal.

Times of Israel Business & Human Rights Resource Centre Times of Israel (Knesset panel)

Timeline of documented support

194119531965197719892001201320251945 — Operations in Israel: State of Israel (national shipping line, emergency sealift)Operations in Israel19452011-03 — Government contract: Israel's Ministry of Defense (via the FMC-filed "Israel Carrier Association" agreement)Government contract2011-032023-07 — Operations in Israel: Israel (military cargo transiting via Antwerp to the ports of Ashdod and Haifa)Operations in Israel2023-072023-10 — Public statement: State of Israel and the IDF (offer of fleet and infrastructure)Public statement2023-102023-10 — Donation: Ten hospitals across Israel, from the south to the north, and the city of SderotDonation2023-102023-10 — Donation: Planned animal-assisted therapy centre for child trauma victims in SderotDonation2023-102023-10 — In-kind support: Israeli nonprofits and institutions (dozens of shipping containers)In-kind support2023-102025-06 — Operations in Israel: Israeli health system (repatriation of essential doctors)Operations in Israel2025-062026-02 — Operations in Israel: IDF and Israeli defense establishment (wartime military sealift)Operations in Israel2026-02

Documented support

TypeDateAmountRecipientSources
Operations in Israel1945—State of Israel (national shipping line, emergency sealift)
Israel's national shipping line: founded in 1945 before the state itself, headquartered in Haifa and listed on the NYSE. The Israeli government holds a 'golden share' in ZIM that requires the company to keep a minimum fleet Israeli-owned — 11 vessels — available for state use in emergencies, so that ammunition, wheat and fuel can still reach Israel when foreign carriers stop calling at its ports.
Public statement2023-10-10—State of Israel and the IDF (offer of fleet and infrastructure)
Three days after October 7, ZIM publicly offered all of its vessels, ships and infrastructure to serve Israel's national needs during the war. President and CEO Eli Glickman said 'This is the time for mutual support and unity. Only together will we strengthen,' and urged ZIM employees to support residents of southern Israel and the IDF.
Donation2023-10-20$4,939,000Ten hospitals across Israel, from the south to the north, and the city of Sderot
On 20 October 2023, two weeks into the war, ZIM announced through its president and CEO Eli Glickman that the company had donated about NIS 20 million (about US$4.9 million at the Bank of Israel representative rate of 4.049 shekels to the dollar that day) to ten hospitals across Israel, from the south of the country to the north, and to the city of Sderot. This is the corporation's own money — not a foundation's, not an employee collection, not an importer or an affiliate. ZIM's own ESG Report 2023 records the company donating funds used to buy advanced equipment for hospitals, but gives no figure; the amount comes from ZIM's announcement as reported by ice.
Donation2023-10-20$2,470,000Planned animal-assisted therapy centre for child trauma victims in Sderot
On top of the NIS 20 million it had already given, ZIM committed a further NIS 10 million (about US$2.5 million at the same 4.049 rate) to build a centre in Sderot where children who have been through trauma are treated with animal-assisted therapy, serving Sderot and the southern communities near the Gaza border. The donor is the company: CEO Eli Glickman announced the pledge in the first person, but the money committed is ZIM's. ZIM's own ESG Report 2023 then records the company donating funds for an innovative treatment centre for children using animal therapy, which says the pledge was acted on; the report gives no figure.
In-kind support2023-10-20—Israeli nonprofits and institutions (dozens of shipping containers)
In the same announcement ZIM said it had given dozens of shipping containers to a range of bodies to help them work through the war. ZIM's own ESG Report 2023 confirms it from the company side: it donated containers for various needs, including an organic farm that works with people with post-traumatic stress disorder, and ZIM Israel donated containers to local nonprofits including HaGal Sheli, which works with young people through surfing. In-kind, from the company itself; no value was put on the containers, so the amount column stays empty.
Operations in Israel2026-02-22—IDF and Israeli defense establishment (wartime military sealift)
Israel's Defense Ministry told a Knesset panel that ZIM has been critical to military logistics throughout the war: representative Shai Halperin said 'Since October 7, we are in a security crisis, and Zim has provided a response' to shipping needs as European states imposed de facto arms embargoes, warning that without it 'we will not be able to bring here what the IDF and the defense establishment need.' ZIM's workers' committee chairman Oren Caspi said the company's vessels 'served as a vital channel for supplying ammunition, food, and medicine to the State of Israel' during the war.
One source
Operations in Israel2025-06—Israeli health system (repatriation of essential doctors)
During the June 2025 Israel–Iran war, with Ben Gurion Airport closed, the containership Zim Australia was pressed into service by Israel's Transport Ministry to shuttle stranded Israeli hospital doctors with essential specialties from Limassol, Cyprus to the Port of Haifa — around 40 doctors over two voyages — keeping Israel's sea gate open under missile fire.
Government contract2011-03-02—Israel's Ministry of Defense (via the FMC-filed "Israel Carrier Association" agreement)
ZIM is a party — together with A.P. Moller-Maersk, Maersk Line Limited and, in earlier filings, American President Lines — to an ocean carrier agreement filed with the US Federal Maritime Commission, Agreement No. 011346, titled "Israel Carrier Association." A 2011 amendment on file with the FMC, published in the Federal Register, states verbatim that it "changes the authority of the Agreement from a conference to a service contract with Israel's Ministry of Defense." An earlier 2005 Federal Register notice on the same agreement (then named the "Israel Trade Conference Agreement") already limited the parties' authority to "cargo moving for the account of specific governmental organizations." Who Profits' ZIM profile additionally asserts that ZIM ships Israeli weapons purchased with US aid funds and carries roughly half of that US-origin security cargo — those specific figures rest on Who Profits' own characterization; no linked underlying document could be found to verify them independently, so they are reported here as Who Profits' claim, not as an established fact.
Operations in Israel2023-07—Israel (military cargo transiting via Antwerp to the ports of Ashdod and Haifa)
Belgian peace-research groups Vredesactie and the International Peace Information Service (IPIS) documented ten ZIM vessels carrying ammunition through the Port of Antwerp between November 2022 and July 2023, including a shipment of roughly 246 tons of munitions routed from Hamburg via Antwerp toward the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa, without the transit licence Belgian law requires for such cargo. In May 2024 a coalition of Belgian NGOs (including 11.11.11, Al-Haq Europe, Oxfam Belgium, Broederlijk Delen and Vredesactie) filed a criminal complaint against ZIM and its Belgian agent alleging violation of Belgium's Arms Trade Decree; as of the most recent reporting the complaint was awaiting a judicial investigation, with no verdict reached. Who Profits' ZIM profile repeats these NGO findings without a link to the underlying Vredesactie/IPIS report; the claim is independently corroborated here via Business & Human Rights Resource Centre's reporting and the Arms Trade Litigation Monitor's case tracker, rather than taken from Who Profits alone.
Donations total$7,409,000

Frequently asked questions

Did ZIM donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?

Yes. Documented donations total $7,409,000, including $4,939,000 to Ten hospitals across Israel, from the south to the north, and the city of Sderot. Each donation is listed on this page with its date and source.

How much has ZIM given?

Documented donations total $7,409,000. The largest single recorded item is $4,939,000 to Ten hospitals across Israel, from the south to the north, and the city of Sderot (2023-10-20).

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. 15 distinct sources are cited for ZIM. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.

Sources & citations

Record last updated: 2026-09-26

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