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Paypal V-MIL

MILITARY AUDIT UPDATED 2026-05-18
V-MIL Score 0.00 /10 C Paypal — BDS-1000 520
V-MIL 0.00

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream — see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

V-MIL Audit — PayPal Holdings, Inc.

Audit Phase: V-MIL (Verified Military-Industrial Linkages) Target Company: PayPal Holdings, Inc. Audit Date: 2026-05-01 Jurisdiction Focus: Israel / Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

Executive Summary

This V-MIL audit examines PayPal Holdings, Inc. for evidence of direct or indirect involvement in Israeli military and defence supply chains, dual-use manufacturing, logistical sustainment of security forces, munitions or weapons-systems production, and related regulatory or civil-society exposure. The audit draws exclusively on the sources enumerated in the research memo.

PayPal is a digital-payments technology company. Its Israeli footprint — established through the acquisitions of Fraud Sciences (2008) and CyActive (2015) and maintained as PayPal Israel Ltd. — is oriented toward civilian fraud-prevention and cybersecurity R&D, not defence manufacturing or supply.1234 Across all V-MIL domains, no public evidence was identified of contracts, component supply, licences, or co-production arrangements with Israeli defence entities. The company’s most significant documented controversy in the Israeli-Palestinian context is its service-access asymmetry: PayPal operates for Israeli users, including settlers in West Bank settlements, while declining to offer services to Palestinians in the OPT — a matter of civil-society and political-advocacy pressure rather than defence-trade concern.567

Section 1 — Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

Israeli Ministry of Defence and IDF Contracts

No public evidence was identified of contracts, tenders, memoranda of understanding, or framework agreements between PayPal Holdings, Inc. (or its subsidiary PayPal Israel Ltd.) and the Israeli Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israel Prison Service, or the Israel Border Police.189 Sources checked include the SIBAT Defence Export and Cooperation Directorate directory10, the Israeli MoD procurement and tenders portal11, PayPal’s annual 10-K disclosures filed with the SEC1, and the Who Profits and AFSC Investigate NGO databases89.

Defence Trade Directory Listings

No public evidence was identified that PayPal or any of its subsidiaries appears in SIBAT’s defence-industry catalogue or in Israeli defence-exhibition exhibitor lists.10

Official Corporate Announcements

A review of PayPal’s corporate newsroom and its 10-K filings through fiscal year 2024 identified no press releases, investor communications, or regulatory disclosures announcing defence-cooperation arrangements, preferred-supplier status, or security-sector partnerships with any Israeli government entity.1

Section 2 — Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

Product Portfolio Assessment

PayPal is a digital-payments platform; it does not design, manufacture, or sell physical goods of any kind.1 Its product portfolio consists entirely of software-based payment-processing, fraud-detection, and authentication services. There is no product line that is ruggedised, militarised, mil-spec certified, or marketed as a tactical or defence variant.112

Acceptable Use Policy Restrictions

PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy (current as of 2024–2025) explicitly prohibits the use of its platform for transactions involving firearms, certain ammunition, and other regulated weapons-adjacent goods.12 This policy positions PayPal in active opposition to weapons-commerce facilitation rather than as an enabler of it.

Export Licensing and End-User Certification

No public evidence was identified of export-licence applications or end-user certificates filed by PayPal in connection with Israeli defence or security end-users. Sources checked include the U.S. State Department Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC)13 and the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)14, as well as PayPal’s SEC filings.1

Section 3 — Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

Manufacturing and Equipment

PayPal does not manufacture or sell heavy machinery, vehicles, engineering equipment, or construction materials of any kind.1 Accordingly, the standard V-MIL sub-questions regarding equipment deployed in occupied territories, military-grade vehicles, or barrier-construction machinery are not applicable.

Physical Assets in Occupied Territories

No public evidence was identified in the Who Profits Research Center database8, the AFSC Investigate database9, or the UN OHCHR database of businesses involved in Israeli settlement activity (A/HRC/43/71 and subsequent updates)15 linking PayPal physical assets to settlement construction, land-clearance operations, or separation-barrier infrastructure.

Services Dimension: Access Asymmetry in the OPT

While PayPal has no physical infrastructure in occupied territories, its service-access policy constitutes the most documented Israel/OPT-related controversy in the public record. PayPal does not offer services to Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza, while it does provide services to Israeli citizens, including settlers residing in West Bank settlements.567

This asymmetry has been documented by 7amleh (the Arab Center for Social Media Advancement) in multiple reports spanning 2016–2024, which frame the denial of access as a form of structural discrimination affecting Palestinian economic participation.5 The matter has also received sustained coverage in international media.7 PayPal has not appeared in published versions of the UN OHCHR settlement-business database reviewed through 2023.15

Section 4 — Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

Component or Sub-System Supply

No public evidence was identified of PayPal supplying components, sub-systems, software licences, or services to Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, or IMI Systems (now part of Elbit).1 PayPal does not produce hardware components, and its software services are not described in any public source as being integrated into Israeli defence platforms.189

Israel R&D Operations

PayPal Israel Ltd. operates R&D activity in Tel Aviv, established through the acquisitions of Fraud Sciences (acquired 2008 for approximately $169 million)3 and CyActive (acquired March 2015)4. Public descriptions of this R&D activity — including coverage in the Israeli business press and PayPal’s own filings — characterise it as focused on fraud detection, machine learning, and cybersecurity for civilian payment systems.1634 Patent records assigned to PayPal at the USPTO and Google Patents are concentrated in payments, fraud detection, authentication, and machine learning, with no identified filings in fire-control, guidance, radar, or warhead engineering.17

Joint Development and Co-Production

No public evidence was identified of joint development agreements or co-production arrangements between PayPal and Israeli defence manufacturers.11617

Section 5 — Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

Service Contracts with Military Installations

No public evidence was identified of PayPal providing catering, transport, fuel, telecommunications, facilities management, or other base-support services to IDF installations, military training facilities, detention centres, or border-security infrastructure.1189

U.S. Federal Government Contracting

USAspending.gov and SAM.gov federal procurement records18 were reviewed. No relevant defence-linked procurement relationships were identified from these sources in the context of the Israeli military supply chain.

Logistics and Freight

Not applicable. PayPal is not a logistics, shipping, or freight provider.1

Section 6 — Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

Lethal Systems Manufacturing

PayPal is not a defence manufacturer. No public evidence was identified of any role as prime contractor, sub-contractor, or licensed manufacturer of small arms, artillery systems, armoured vehicles, unmanned aerial systems (drones), naval platforms, or any other lethal weapons system.1

Munitions and Precursor Materials

No public evidence was identified of PayPal involvement in the production, sale, or export of munitions, explosives, propellants, or dual-use precursor materials.11314

Strategic and Existential Defence Platforms

No public evidence was identified of any PayPal role in the Iron Dome missile-defence system, David’s Sling, Arrow ballistic-missile defence, F-35 supply chain, Merkava tank production, warship construction, or any equivalent strategic-platform programme.189

Sub-System and Critical Component Supply

No public evidence was identified of PayPal supplying fire-control systems, guidance components, radar elements, communication modules, or any other sub-system to Israeli weapons platforms.117 The company’s patent portfolio, which is publicly searchable, is entirely concentrated in civilian financial-technology applications.17

Section 7 — Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

Export Licence Decisions

No public evidence was identified of granted, denied, suspended, or revoked export licences issued by any jurisdiction — including the U.S. DDTC13 or BIS14 — covering PayPal sales or technology transfers to Israeli military or security end-users.

Arms Embargo and Sanctions Compliance

No public evidence was identified of investigations, enforcement actions, penalties, or voluntary disclosures involving PayPal in relation to arms embargoes or defence-trade compliance in the context of Israel or the OPT.1314

No public evidence was identified of court proceedings against PayPal arising from defence supply to Israel. Existing legal-adjacent pressure involving PayPal and the Israeli-Palestinian context takes the form of civil-society advocacy campaigns and congressional correspondence regarding the denial of payment services to Palestinians — a matter of civil-rights and financial-inclusion advocacy, not defence-trade litigation.567

Section 8 — Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

NGO and Academic Databases

The Who Profits Research Center and AFSC Investigate databases do not list PayPal as a company involved in the Israeli military supply chain or the settlement enterprise in their published profiles as of the date of search.89 This is a notable finding given that both databases cover a broad range of sectors including technology and financial services.

7amleh and the Palestinian Service-Access Campaign

7amleh (the Arab Center for Social Media Advancement) has published multiple reports between 2016 and 2024 documenting PayPal’s refusal to operate for Palestinian users in the OPT while simultaneously offering services to Israeli settlers in the West Bank.5 These reports frame the disparity as a discriminatory access policy with significant economic consequences for Palestinians, rather than as a defence-supply or military-complicity issue. The 2021 advocacy campaign attracted broad attention in international media.7

Congressional and Civil-Society Correspondence

In 2021, a coalition of approximately 30 U.S. lawmakers and human-rights organisations signed an open letter urging PayPal to extend services to Palestinians.6 Coverage of the campaign and its lack of resolution continued through 2022–2024. As of the available evidence, PayPal has not announced a policy change in response.67

UN OHCHR Settlement-Business Database

The UN OHCHR database of business enterprises involved in Israeli settlement activity (A/HRC/43/71 and subsequent updates)15 does not list PayPal in published versions reviewed through 2023. The Don’t Buy Into Occupation (DBIO) coalition’s financial-flows reports19 were also reviewed; no specific PayPal defence-supply finding was identified in those materials.

BDS Movement

No public evidence was identified of an organised BDS-listed consumer boycott targeting PayPal specifically on defence-supply grounds.20 Campaigns referencing PayPal are focused on the service-denial-to-Palestinians access issue, not on arms manufacturing or military contracting.2056

Corporate Response

PayPal has issued general public statements in response to Palestinian-access pressure, citing regulatory constraints and risk-assessment processes as explanatory factors, but has not announced a concrete change in policy as of the available evidence base.67 No corporate statements on defence supply were identified — consistent with the finding that no credible public allegations of defence supply have been made against the company.

Evidence Gaps

The following limitations affect the completeness of this audit and should be noted for any follow-on investigation:

End Notes

Footnotes

  1. https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001633917&type=10-K ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17

  2. https://www.dnb.co.il/ ↩

  3. https://techcrunch.com/2008/01/28/paypal-buys-fraud-sciences-for-169-million/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. https://www.reuters.com/article/paypal-cyactive-idUSL5N0W92AQ20150309 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. https://7amleh.org/2024/05/08/position-paper-on-paypal-discrimination-against-palestinians ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/02/paypal-palestinians-israel-petition ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  7. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/11/2/paypal-palestinians-israel-petition ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  8. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/all ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  9. https://investigate.afsc.org/company/paypal-holdings ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  10. https://www.sibat.mod.gov.il/Industries/directory/Pages/default.aspx ↩ ↩2

  11. https://www.online.mod.gov.il/eng/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/acceptableuse-full ↩ ↩2

  13. https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/ddtc_public ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  14. https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/enforcement ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/regular-sessions/session43/list-database-business-involved-settlement-activities ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  16. https://en.globes.co.il/ ↩ ↩2

  17. https://patents.google.com/?assignee=PayPal ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  18. https://www.usaspending.gov/recipient ↩

  19. https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/reports/dont-buy-into-occupation-report-2024/ ↩

  20. https://bdsmovement.net/campaigns ↩ ↩2