According to an article in the May 28 Financial Times, “one of the largest investors in Israel’s bonds is not a hedge fund titan or a Wall Street trader, but an elected municipal comptroller investing the tax dollars of Palm Beach County. Joseph Abruzzo, the overseer of investments for Florida’s largest county, holds $700 million out of his $4.6 billion overall portfolio in so-called Israel bonds.”
Israel Bonds, the official underwriter for the debt, reports that since Oct. 7, 2023 it has sold over $3 billion in debt, three times the annual average. Florida, Indiana and Ohio are reportedly the states with the largest such purchases. In 2023, Israel Bonds accounted for about a quarter of Israel’s total external debt issuance, which is “helping buttress a wartime budget deficit,” FT notes.
“The investments by Palm Beach, as well as Miami-Dade, Broward and other Florida counties, were made possible by a 2008 state law that added Israel bonds to U.S. Treasuries, federal agency-backed debt, money market funds and other low-risk assets. No other foreign government bonds are allowed.”
