Vanguard

Vanguard Group is the world's second-largest asset manager with $10.4 trillion in assets, operating a mutual ownership structure that funnels investments from 50+ million individual investors into companies including weapons manufacturers, Israeli military contractors, and companies enabling complicit in human rights violations and occupation. A July 2025 UN Human Rights Council report officially named Vanguard as a central enabler of the "economy of genocide,". The reports documents how the firm channels critical funding to state and corporate actors behind Israeli apartheid and military operations in Gaza. Despite urgent calls from UN experts to divest, Vanguard has refused to respond and continues expanding its holdings in companies profiting from war.

War Portfolio

Vanguard maintains over $90 billion in war contractor investments across 103 funds, holding dominant stakes in every major U.S. weapons manufacturer. As of writing this, the firm owns 9.2% of Lockheed Martin ($10 billion), making it the second-largest shareholder in the company that supplies F-35 fighter used to drop an estimated tons of bombs on Gaza. Vanguard is one of the largest shareholder in multiple weapons manufacturers including RTX Corporation, Boeing, CAT, Northrop Grumman, and the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. Vanguard is also one of the largest investor in the nuclear weapons industry globally, holding billions in nuclear weapons manufacturers.

Vanguard invested $546 million in Israeli government treasury bonds issued in March 2024 and February 2025 to fund military spending that ballooned from 4.2% to 8.3% of Israel's GDP. The firm holds hundred of millions in Elbit Systems Israel's largest weapons manufacturer that provides drones, targeting systems, and weapons integral to Israeli operations in Gaza.

Vanguard is the largest institutional investor in Palantir Technologies, which supplies AI-powered automated targeting systems including "Lavender," "Gospel," and "Where's Daddy?".

Sources:

• Aljazeera UN report lists companies complicit in Israel’s ‘genocide’: Who are they?
• Business and Human Rights Resource Centre Vanguard Group did not respond to urgent call by UN Experts to cease the transfer of arms to Israel
• Investopedia Who Owns Vanguard Group?
• The Intercept Report: Bit by Bit, the Noose Is Tightening Around the Nuclear Weapons Industry
• United Nations From economy of occupation to economy of genocide – (A/HRC/59/23) Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967
• Weapon Free Funds Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund

List of investments in companies complicit in war and human and labour rights violations

1. 1.Microsoft
   $664.93B
2. 2.Coca-Cola
   $71.96B
3. 3.IBM
   $52.45B
4. 4.Cisco
   $48.23B
5. 5.Caterpillar
   $47.37B
6. 6.PepsiCo
   $34.38B
7. 7.Disney
   $32.48B
8. 8.Intel
   $27.45B
9. 9.Booking Holdings
   $26.05B
10. 10.Boeing Company
    $23.43B
11. 11.Starbucks
    $15.54B
12. 12.Motorola Solutions
    $13.94B
13. 13.Hewlett Packard (HP & HP-E)
    $13.30B
14. 14.Siemens AG
    $8.46B
15. 15.Airbnb
    $8.07B
16. 16.Dell
    $7.93B
17. 17.Expedia Group
    $7.19B
18. 18.Nestlé
    $5.84B
19. 19.Inditex
    $2.17B
20. 20.Volvo Group
    $1.23B
21. 21.TripAdvisor
    $343.80M
22. 22.Wix
    $318.19M
23. 23.Carrefour
    $169.30M
24. 24.Mobileye
    $107.12M
25. 25.Puma
    $45.71M

List of complicit funds

1. VANGUARD CHESTER FUNDS-Vanguard PRIMECAP Fund
2. Vanguard Explorer Fund
3. VANGUARD FENWAY FUNDS-Vanguard Equity Income Fund
4. Vanguard Group Inc
5. VANGUARD HORIZON FUNDS-Vanguard Capital Opportunity Fund
6. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard 500 Index Fund
7. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund
8. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Growth Index Fund
9. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Fund
10. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund
11. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Small-Cap Growth Index Fund
12. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund
13. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund
14. VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Value Index Fund
15. VANGUARD INSTITUTIONAL INDEX FUNDS-Vanguard Institutional Index Fund
16. VANGUARD Intl Eqy. INDEX Fd.S-Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fd
17. VANGUARD Intl Eqy. INDEX Fd.S-Vanguard European Stock Index Fd.
18. VANGUARD Intl Eqy. INDEX Fd.S-Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Index Fd.
19. VANGUARD Intl Eqy. INDEX Fd.S-Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fd.
20. VANGUARD SPECIALIZED FUNDS-Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund
21. VANGUARD STAR FUNDS-Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund
22. VANGUARD TAX-MANAGED FUNDS-Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund
23. VANGUARD WELLESLEY INCOME FUND
24. VANGUARD WHITEHALL Fd.S-Vanguard Intl High Dividend Yield Index Fd.
25. VANGUARD WORLD FUND-Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund
26. VANGUARD WORLD FUND-Vanguard International Growth Fund