On December 31, Development Corporation for Israel/Israel Bonds closed the books on 2017 U.S. sales exceeding $1.112 billion, the fifth consecutive year investments eclipsed the $1 billion mark.  Worldwide sales approached $1.3 billion, adding to a global total of more than $41 billion since the first Israel bonds were issued in 1951.
 
Admiration for the Bonds enterprise came from the highest levels of Israel’s government.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israel bonds as both “a financial instrument and a fraternal instrument, a bond of brotherhood and sisterhood with the Jewish state, for Jews and non-Jews alike.” Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon cited the organization’s “incredible and historic contribution to the State of Israel.”


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israel bonds as both “a financial instrument
and a fraternal instrument, a bond of brotherhood and sisterhood with the Jewish state,
for Jews and non-Jews alike” in his 2017 Prime Minister's Club address in Miami


Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon at an Israel Bonds event in July 2017 in Washington, DC 
(Photo: Freed Photography)

Additionally, Warren Buffett, who earlier in the year participated in his second event for Israel Bonds in less than seven months, told a New York audience, “The purchase of Israel bonds is a sound investment and a deserved endorsement of a remarkable country.”


Warren Buffett tells a New York audience Israel bonds are “a deserved endorsement of
a remarkable country” in June 2017 (Photo: Shahan Azran)

Israel Bonds Vice President for Sales Stuart Garawitz said, “I am gratified that we saw across-the-board increases in all significant categories – clients, transactions and bondholders.  Surpassing $1 billion for the fifth consecutive year underscores the fact that purchasers large and small, individuals and institutional, understand Israel bonds are value-added investments that provide both financial returns and a direct connection with Israel.”
 
Online sales of Israel bonds continued to grow exponentially, with 2017 being the most successful year yet since the Bonds organization launched its ecommerce site in the fall of 2011.  Online sales for the year totaled nearly $47 million, a 49 percent increase over 2016.
 
In commenting on the 2017 sales, Bonds President & CEO Israel Maimon said, “I want to thank each Israel bond investor at every level, individual and institutional alike, for their faith in Israel and its strong economy.  As Israel looks to its 70^th anniversary, our loyal client base is helping to lay the foundation for ever-greater achievements.”
 
He added, “I express my deep appreciation to our dedicated lay leaders and staff.  The results of the past year would not have been possible without them, and I am grateful for their devotion to the Bonds mission and the State of Israel.”