Israel receives wartime support from huge increase in Israel Bonds sales

Mark Ruben, left, listens to County Comptroller Joseph Abruzzo discuss Palm Beach’s investment in Israel Bonds in October. Photo courtesy Joseph Abruzzo’s office.

In May, Israel Bonds announced that it had sold over $3 billion globally in the six months since the Oct. 7 attacks, triple the usual annual sales.

Over 35 state and municipal governments invested, for a total of over $1.7 billion. The largest investor in Israel Bonds is now Palm Beach County, with over $700 million. There has also been a mix of retail and institutional purchases showing broad support.

Mark Ruben, the Palm Beach executive director of Israel Bonds, has been in the middle of that effort, and doesn’t plan on slowing down any time soon. Since he started with Israel Bonds in 1991, he said he has sold over $2 billion — with about $1 billion of that coming since the war started last fall.

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“Israel’s supporters around the world have sent a clear and powerful message with their investment dollars in the wake of Oct. 7,” said Israel Bonds President and CEO Dani Naveh. “From the synagogue members buying Bar or Bat Mitzvah Celebration Bonds to state treasurers making unprecedented purchases, Israel Bonds has seen a surge of investments across every category that we do business.”

Palm Beach County purchased $160 million in Bonds in October, then made an additional purchase after the county commission raised the cap on an individual investment in the county portfolio from 10 percent to 15 percent in March. The county’s overall portfolio is $4.67 billion.

Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Joseph Abruzzo announced on March 26 that the county was the world’s largest investor in Israel Bonds. “My first duty to the taxpayers of Palm Beach County is to make sure that our tax dollars are protected and invested correctly and wisely,” Abruzzo said. “Israel Bonds are paying a higher rate than our U.S. Treasuries and are just as safe.” He said the county would earn $83 million from the investments.

The state of Florida also has $250 million in Israel Bonds investments. After a purchase last October, the state added $50 million in March, according to state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.

Not everyone in the area is thrilled, as three U.S. citizens of Palestinian descent in Palm Beach County filed suit in May. Abruzzo calls the case “frivolous” and expects that it will be dismissed.

After Oct. 7, Georgia and Oklahoma each purchased $10 million, Ohio and South Carolina each added $30 million, Alabama bought $6 million, Louisiana bought $5 million, Texas added $20 million, among many others.

Israel Bonds is apolitical, Ruben said, and Florida shows how Israel Bonds has “help from across the board politically speaking.” Abruzzo is a Democrat, and Patronis is a Republican. “they have been extremely supportive.”

But Ruben isn’t keeping only to South Florida — he will go “anywhere in the country that there is an interest.” The College of the Ozarks in Missouri was not aware of Israel Bonds, “but lay leadership brought me to them to speak about the role Israel Bonds plays in Israel, always, but in this particular time specifically.”

Brad Johnson, president of College of the Ozarks, announced the college’s investment “as another way to demonstrate our support of Israel. As a Christian institution, we have a scriptural stake in the fate of Israel. Our Board of Trustees and our campus have committed to pray for Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem.”

Ruben said he has had discussions with other Christian colleges. “People from the Christian and the Jewish communities have been in contact with me.”

He said the support from the Christian community “for the Jewish people and Israel is heartwarming, and very much needed now.” He added that he was “grateful for their support and look forward to more.”

He also has spoken with some states that do not currently have Israel Bonds investments.

When he started in 1991 as a field representative, Israel Bonds hit $1 billion in worldwide sales for the first time. Twelve years ago, the U.S. sales started hitting $1 billion per year.

Funds going to Israel through Israel Bonds are not directed at specific projects, but are used for what is needed at the time. Bonds “enabled Israel to become a leader in high tech, for example,” he said.

Through the years, the government often limited the amount of Bonds that could be sold, because they did not want to take on too much additional debt, as they had one of the lower debt to GDP ratio among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. With the current war, “anything we can raise, they are happy to receive.”

With growing institutional and governmental purchases, Israel Bonds has been less event oriented than the days of the annual Israel Bonds dinner in communities throughout the country. Events “are still important to reach our goals,” Ruben said. “It’s a good mix, and we’re happy to do events when they are appropriate.”

Despite the larger numbers of investments coming in, “we’re going to keep pressing,” and he is “always available.”