A Story of Pollution, Exploitation, and Resistance from Amsterdam to Palestine
Highlights:
- Residents of Amsterdam Noord and other neighbourhoods of Amsterdam are suffering from chemical odors caused by ICL, which emits a terrible stench as well as high levels of hydrochloric acid (HCl). Despite years of complaints and fines, ICL continues polluting.In Catalonia (Spain), ICL Iberia caused widespread water pollution, leaving the Catalan government with massive debts, yet the company seeks to expand.
- ICL profits from the Israeli illegal occupation of Palestine. It extracts minerals and water from the Dead Sea in the occupied West Bank, contributes to environmental destruction and settlement agriculture. ICL’s activities have already caused major ecological disasters, still it plans harmful new mines.
- ICL directly funds the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) through it’s ‘Adopt a Soldier’ program, a project aimed at providing assistance to combat soldiers. ICL has adopted two regiments which actively took part in several mass atrocities, including the Nakba and the ground offensive in Gaza that started in October 2023.
- ICL is one of only three companies involved in the supply chain of white phosphorus ammunition production. Its use as an incendiary weapon civilian areas constitutes a war crime. Amnesty International has documented its recent use by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, causing horrible civilian suffering.
ICL in Amsterdam
Amsterdam Noord stinks! And pretty badly. The resident’s initiative Adem Vrij aan het IJ has been bringing a lot of attention to the lived experience of many in the Noord of Amsterdam, where the air is tainted by constant disruptive chemical smells during south-westerly winds, making the inhabitants deeply concerned for their health. The substances causing the smells come from industrial plants in the Port of Amsterdam, mainly from the Bunge soy factory, the oil terminals, cruise ships and most importantly the ICL Fertilizers facility, also known as Amfert. The latter has been the target of complaints since the seventies and eighties of the last century1. Complaints of the past six years have been mostly neglected as the facility was supposed to relocate in 2026 – but as of today, the company won’t leave the Amsterdam port until 2040 when its location-concession is ending. Meanwhile, it seems that the factory continues to pollute the city with its excessive hydrochloric acid (HCl) emissions and seems to show no consideration for local residents.
HCI is a big acidifying pollutant, impacting heavily entire ecosystems, including plants and water.2 Enduring exposure to this substance, even at low concentration, has severe consequences for human health, including increasing the risk of respiratory tract damage and pulmonary function disorders.3
In October 2024, the regional Environmental Protection Agency ODNZKG measured a concentration of hydrochloric acid of 736 mg/Nm³ at ICL, whereas the environmental permit only allows 30 mg/Nm³.4 The new legal standard for HCl emissions, which does not yet apply to ICL, is currently only 3 mg/Nm³.5 A new report of ICL’s HCl concentration emissions published in 2025, showed peaks of 1670 and even 2175 mg/Nm³.6 The Environmental Agency imposed two fines of €125,000 each, which ICL has been resisting to pay. Finally, in September this year, Provincial Executive of North Holland rejected their objection.7 ICL has since decided to contest the fines and measurements of HCl in court.8 Hence, the fine may be paid, but is it enough to stop the dramatic impacts of this company’s presence and practice?
To understand the situation, it is important to get to know the main character of this story. Hence, what kind of company is ICL? What do they do and where? And what do they have to do with the food system?
Background on ICL
ICL Group Ltd produces fertilizers and other so-called speciality chemicals. They used to be called Israel Chemicals Ltd. The sectors they produce for are vaguely named 1) fertilizers 2) industrial products and 3) performance products.9 Its most prominent representatives are Elad Aharonson, President and CEO of ICL Group and Ilan Barkai, President of the Potash Division and Head of Israel Phosphate Operations. The company was founded in 196810 and is listed on the New York and Tel Aviv stock exchange through its parent company, Israel Corp.11 Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer is Israel Corp’s controlling shareholder.
The company produces products for the industrial food and agriculture system, including fertilizers and feed additives for livestock farming. The fertilizers include red and white potash as well as phosphates.12 ICL also owns brands like “Nutri Liquid Nitrogen” that supplies Nitrogen fertilizers. They claim to being committed to fighting hunger all around the world and play their role in food security. This narrative is common among chemical fertilizer producers. ICL has been partnering with Yara, one of the world’s largest producers of synthetic fertilisers, infamous for its disastrous environmental impacts all around the globe, and its scandalous cases of corruption over the years.13 Yara claims its mission is to “responsibly feed the world and protect the planet”.14 It has been widely studied and observed that Nitrogen and Phosphate fertilizers are “causing an environmental crisis, as algae blooms and oceanic “dead zones” grow in scale and frequency (…) of the nine “planetary boundaries” that scientists say we must not cross in order to sustain human life, the boundary associated with nitrogen and phosphorus waste has been far surpassed, putting Earth’s operating system at risk.”15Chemical fertilizers are not needed to feed the world, instead they must be phased out.16
The chemicals ICL produces are not only applied in agriculture. They are used in batteries to enable oil and gas drilling. Their products categorised as flame retardant are used in a variety of applications like car manufacturing or in products to fight forest fires. Their chemicals are also used in medicines and make-up. One sector they don’t advertise on their website is military application, more on their involvement with the weapon industry will follow.17
ICL has different sections in Europe. Their Spanish branch ICL Iberia has been operating mines in Súria and Sallent in Catalunia for almost thirty years. In the region they have caused severe damage to the environment by dumping their salt and toxic waste into fresh water systems. This polluted nature, agricultural areas and health of all living beings. The pollution of drinking water caused hundreds of millions in debt for the Catalan administration. After having their mining activities declared illegal, ICL is fighting to open and continue new mining projects in the area.18
Also, elsewhere ICL is growing their operations. In St Louis, Missouri the ICL group is setting up a $547 million project including facilities to produce batteries and products for the energy and transportation sector.19 The local communities are organising against this second factory in their city and against the chemicals ICL produces, used in ammunition.20;21 ICL’s US operations surrounding white phosphorus are arranged from this site.22
Involvement in white phosphorus ammunition production
White phosphorus munition is made from phosphate rocks. When it comes in contact with oxygen in the air they ignite and produce smoke, its colour giving it its name. White phosphorus can be hotter than 800 °C. This means even partial exposure of the human body will cause almost certain death. It can blind, damage different organs and burn through layers of alive tissue causing extreme pain and suffering.23 Despite the extreme suffering that white phosphorus causes, production of the substance is not legally punishable or condemnable under international law. However, the use in populated areas or close to civilians is a war crime banned by Article 2 of Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III)24.
The chemical is globally mainly produced and distributed by three companies, one of them ICL, the others Bayer-Monsanto and Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA).25 One of the chemicals ICL produces is phosphate, however there is no evidence that they manufacture white phosphorus. Nevertheless, it is “believed that ICL provides phosphates to chemical company Monsanto to produce white phosphorus”, which is then sent to PBA, where it is used as munition filling creating white phosphorus ammunition.26 Officially, ICL Group, through its subsidiary ICL-IP AMERICA INC, has a contract to supply white phosphorus to the US Army for weapons manufacturing from 2020 until the end of 2025.27 ICL Group was contacted by ABC (an Australian public news service) and they initially denied any involvement in supplying white phosphorus to weapons manufacturers. When provided with details of the contract, ICL Group confirmed the arrangement, but said it had stopped supplying white phosphorus to the US Army before the 2025 end date. “We ceased supply last year, and the US Army was notified,” it said in a statement. However, no date was given,28 keeping the current state of affairs of ICL’s involvement with the US military ambiguous.29
White phosphorus ammunition deployments
In military contexts white phosphorus is often used and sold pretending it was for visual purposes, to create smoke and light instead of as an incendiary weapon.30 If it was classified as it should as an “incendiary weapon”31 its use could be classified as a war crime. White Phosphorus has been used “by US military in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, by the Turkish (…) against the Kurdish people in Serekaniye, Syria in 2019, by Saudi Arabia in their US-back campaign in Yemen in 2016, and further recent accusations of the use by Russian forces in Ukraine in 2022”.32 Israel has been using white phosphorus in Lebanon since the 1980s.33 According to Amnesty International, in 2008 and-2009 Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza injured civilians and caused destruction of public institutions like schools and hospitals34. Since the 7th of October 2023 white phosphorus of US origin has been used on civilian population in Gaza and the south of Lebanon.35;36 Most prominently and recently, in November 2023 Israeli military dropped white phosphorus bombs on a UNWRA school in Gaza.37 Amnesty International identified them as PBA bombs, supplied by the US military .38 Whether the US is currently still exporting this ammunition to Israel is unclear.39
ICL’s involvement in Palestine and the genocide
Dead Sea Works Ltd. (DSW), a fully owned subsidiary of ICL Group, extracts potash from the Dead Sea, which is partially in the occupied West Bank.40 The state of Israel has been exerting unlawful control over this area and exploiting its resources for decades.41 There are no guarantees that the minerals ICL mines come solely from “Israeli” territory. This suggests that ICL operates on and profits from the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. Moreover, as DSW extracts water from the Northern Basin of the Dead Sea, they are blocking access to Palestinian peoples’ right to water.42 ICL has been identified by Who Profits as one of the companies profiting off the occupation and involved in settlement economy: products manufactured by ICL Group’s fully owned subsidiary, Fertilizers and Chemicals (ICL Haifa), were documented in several agricultural settlements in the occupied West Bank. ICL Haifa’s customer retention services include regional agronomists for the Jordan Valley, the occupied Syrian Golan and the occupied West Bank; likewise, ICL fertilizers have been found to be used in agricultural experiments in illegal settlements.43 Moreover, ICL’s pumping of water from the Dead Sea contributed to the lowering of the Dead Sea water levels.44 In 2021 alone, ICL pumped around 443 million cubic meters of water from the Northern Basin, where water levels decline annually by 1.2 meters due to industrial water pumping.45
In 2017, the wall of the evaporation pond at the ICL Rotem fertilizer plant collapsed, sending between 100,000 and 250,000 cubic meters or more of highly toxic wastewater rushing through the Ashalim stream. This has caused damage to the flora and fauna of the area, with several animals found dead in the two weeks following the spill.46 Because of this, ICL received the highest fine ever imposed on a company in Israel for environmental damage through pollution, amounting to NIS 115 million ($33 million).47
Moreover, ICL is currently attempting to open a new phosphate mine in the Negev desert, which the Israeli Health Ministry has warned could lead to an “unreasonable” increase in morbidity and mortality in the area.48The project would affect some 100,000 area residents, including 15,000 Bedouin citizens of Al Furah, who would have to be evacuated from the area designated for mining, and for whom no planning for alternative housing had been made. This, as well, shows that the ICL is involved in the colonial practices of land grabbing and mass displacement to extract and exploit resources.
Finally, ICL directly funds the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) through it’s ‘Adopt a Soldier’ program, a project aimed at “providing assistance to IDF combat soldiers, who have been in a continual, day-to-day routine of duty, resulting in exhaustion, activity overload and high-risk situations”. ICL adopts two regiments: the desert patrol regiment (585), comprised mainly of Bedouin soldiers and the Rimon Regiment in the Givati Brigade49. The Givati Brigade, actively took part in several mass atrocities, including the 1947 Nakba50 and until the beginning of 2025 was part of the ground offensive in Gaza that started in October 202351.
From Palestine to Amsterdam
The presence and behaviour of the ICL facility in Amsterdam’s port is alarming, particularly in context of its harmful actions globally. But, the Adem Vrij aan het IJ’s campaign is bearing the first fruits in Amsterdam. Authorities from the municipal and provincial level are looking into ICL’s pollution and a tighter environmental license is expected to come into force for ICL soon. In the national parliament, the issues of ICL’s pollution are also being raised. To what extent ICL will be regulated and whether it will finally stop polluting Amsterdam neighbourhoods, depends on the political will of those in power and public pressure.
Comment from the authors:
Our intention was to find as much information as possible on this company to give a reference list and first overview to any groups or organisations interested in this company. If you have more sources or are organising around ICL, please get in touch with us.
References
1 Het Parool. (2024, 30 May). Raad wil onderzoek: welke ‘troep’ stoot kunstmestbedrijf ICL Fertilizers in Amsterdamse haven uit? Het Parool. https://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/raad-wil-onderzoek-welke-troep-stoot-kunstmestbedrijf-icl-fertilizers-in-amsterdamse-haven-uit~babe1eb22/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
2 Evans, C. D., Monteith, D. T., Fowler, D., Cape, J. N., & Brayshaw, S. (2011). Hydrochloric Acid: An Overlooked Driver of Environmental Change. Environmental Science & Technology, 45(5), 1887–1894. https://doi.org/10.1021/es103574u
3 Mohammadbeigi, A., Heidari, H., Soltanzadeh, A., Darabi, M., & Asadi-Ghalhari, M. (2019). Respiratory effects of occupational exposure to low concentration of hydrochloric acid among exposed workers: a case study in steel industry. Medical Gas Research, 9(4), 208. https://doi.org/10.4103/2045-9912.273958
4 NRK. (2023, oktober 27). Yara kjøper Dødehavsmineraler av omstridt israelsk selskap. https://www.nrk.no/urix/yara-kjoper-dodehavsmineraler-av-omstridt-israelsk-selskap-1.17518725
5 Adem Vrij aan het IJ. (2025, 30 juni). Hoorzitting over schokkende cijfers zoutzuur-uitstoot ICL Fertilizers Amsterdam. https://ademvrijaanhetij.nl/hoorzitting-over-schokkende-cijfers-zoutzuur-uitstoot-icl-fertilizers-amsterdam/
6 Adem Vrij Aan Het IJ. (2025, 27 August). Kunstmestfabriek ICL opnieuw in de fout met zoutzuur. https://ademvrijaanhetij.nl/kunstmestfabriek-icl-opnieuw-in-de-fout-met-zoutzuur/
7 Adem Vrij Aan Het IJ. (2025, 3 september). Bezwaren ICL tegen dwangsom om zoutzuur ongegrond verklaard en nu snel zorgen voor gezonde lucht. https://ademvrijaanhetij.nl/bezwaren-icl-tegen-dwangsom-om-zoutzuur-ongegrond-verklaard-en-nu-snel-zorgen-voor-gezonde-lucht/
8 Het Parool. (2025, 17 september). Amsterdamse kunstmestfabriek gaat in beroep tegen boete voor te hoge uitstoot zoutzuur. https://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/amsterdamse-kunstmestfabriek-gaat-in-beroep-tegen-boete-voor-te-hoge-uitstoot-zoutzuur~bd5cd555/
9 Area Development. (2024, December 2). Israel-based ICL Group plans St. Louis City, Missouri, facility. https://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/12-2-2024/icl-group-st-louis-city-missouri.shtml
10 ICL Group. (n.d.). About us. https://www.icl-group.com/about-us/
11 ICL Group. (2022, March 3). ICL celebrates 30 years as a publicly traded company. https://investors.icl-group.com/reports-news-and-events/press-releases/press-releases-details/2022/ICL-Celebrates-30-Years-as-a-Publicly-Traded-Company/default.aspx
12 Financial Times. (n.d.). ICL Group Ltd, ICL:TLV profile. https://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/profile?s=ICL:TLV
13 Corporate Watch. (2019, September 6). Yara: The fertiliser giant causing climate catastrophe. https://corporatewatch.org/yara-the-fertiliser-giant-causing-climate-catastrophe/#Impact
14 Yara International ASA. (n.d.). This is Yara. https://www.yara.com/this-is-yara/
15 Mukpo, A. (2021, September 22). Nitrogen: The environmental crisis you haven’t heard of yet. Mongabay. https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/nitrogen-the-environmental-crisis-you-havent-heard-of-yet/
16 Shiva, V. (2016). Who really feeds the world? North Atlantic Books.
17 Cinamon, J. (2024, January 2). Behind the smoke: The unlawful use of white phosphorus. Corruption Tracker. https://corruption-tracker.org/blog/behind-the-smoke-the-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus
18 AlertaDH. (2019). Desastre medioambiental en el Bages. https://alertadh.org/es/caso/desastre-medioambiental-en-el-bages/
19 Area Development. (2024, December 2). Israel-based ICL Group plans St. Louis City, Missouri, facility. https://www.areadevelopment.com/newsItems/12-2-2024/icl-group-st-louis-city-missouri.shtml
20 Prism Reports. (2025, August 28). ICL Group, St. Louis & Israel: White phosphorus. https://prismreports.org/2025/08/28/icl-group-st-louis-israel-white-phosphorus/
22 Cinamon, J. (2024, January 2). Behind the smoke: The unlawful use of white phosphorus. Corruption Tracker. https://corruption-tracker.org/blog/behind-the-smoke-the-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus
23 World Health Organization. (2024, January 15). White phosphorus [Fact sheet]. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/white-phosphorus
24 Definition by the United Nations: “Incendiary weapons are weapons or munitions designed to set fire to objects or cause burn or respiratory injury to people through the action of flame, heat, or combination thereof, resulting from a chemical reaction of a flammable substance such as napalm or white phosphorus. The use of incendiary weapons is heavily interlinked with concerns over the respect of international humanitarian law, particularly the prohibition of weapons that cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering and regulations to protect civilians from the effects of hostilities.”https://disarmament.unoda.org/convarms/incendiary-weapons/
25 Cinamon, J. (2024, January 2). Behind the smoke: The unlawful use of white phosphorus. Corruption Tracker. https://corruption-tracker.org/blog/behind-the-smoke-the-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus
26 Prism Reports. (2025, August 28). ICL Group, St. Louis & Israel: White phosphorus. https://prismreports.org/2025/08/28/icl-group-st-louis-israel-white-phosphorus/
27 USAspending (n.d.): Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract. https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_IDV_W52P1J20D3006_9700
28 McGrath, P., Doman, M., Fisher, J., Brettell, T., & Lim, A. (2024, June 30). Ethical super savings found invested in controversial weapons manufacturers. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-01/ethical-super-savings-found-in-controversial-weapons-makers-/104015686
29 Cinamon, J. (2024, January 2). Behind the smoke: The unlawful use of white phosphorus. Corruption Tracker. https://corruption-tracker.org/blog/behind-the-smoke-the-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus
30 Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation. (2014, August 15). NZ Super Fund investment in Israel Chemicals. https://nzsuperfund.nz/news-and-media/nz-super-fund-investment-israel-chemicals/
31 Definition by the United Nations: “Incendiary weapons are weapons or munitions designed to set fire to objects or cause burn or respiratory injury to people through the action of flame, heat, or combination thereof, resulting from a chemical reaction of a flammable substance such as napalm or white phosphorus. The use of incendiary weapons is heavily interlinked with concerns over the respect of international humanitarian law, particularly the prohibition of weapons that cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering and regulations to protect civilians from the effects of hostilities.”https://disarmament.unoda.org/convarms/incendiary-weapons/
32 Cinamon, J. (2024, January 2). Behind the smoke: The unlawful use of white phosphorus. Corruption Tracker. https://corruption-tracker.org/blog/behind-the-smoke-the-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus
33 Wafa, A. (2010). Manufacturer responsibility for end use violations of domestic and international laws: U.S.-made white phosphorus in Gaza. Michigan State Journal of International Law, 18(2), 537–566. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/228469099.pdf
34 Human Rights Watch. (2023, October 12). Questions and answers on Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/questions-and-answers-israels-use-white-phosphorus-gaza-and-lebanon
35 Cinamon, J. (2024, January 2). Behind the smoke: The unlawful use of white phosphorus. Corruption Tracker. https://corruption-tracker.org/blog/behind-the-smoke-the-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus
36 Amnesty International. (2023, October 31). Lebanon: Evidence of Israel’s unlawful use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon as cross-border hostilities escalate. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/lebanon-evidence-of-israels-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus-in-southern-lebanon-as-cross-border-hostilities-escalate/
37 Middle East Monitor. (2023, November 2). Israel drops white phosphorus on UN school. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231102-israel-drops-white-phosphorus-on-un-school/
38 Arms, A., & Ristic, M. (2023, October 13). Israel/OPT: Identifying the Israeli Army’s use of white phosphorus in Gaza. Amnesty International – Citizen Evidence Lab. https://citizenevidence.org/2023/10/13/israel-opt-identifying-the-israeli-armys-use-of-white-phosphorus-in-gaza/
39 Cinamon, J. (2024, January 2). Behind the smoke: The unlawful use of white phosphorus. Corruption Tracker. https://corruption-tracker.org/blog/behind-the-smoke-the-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus
40 ICL Group. (2021). ICL Dead Sea | Israel.https://2021.icl-group-sustainability.com/reports/icl-dead-sea-israel/
41 Al-Haq. (2012, September 3). Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel’s unlawful exploitation of natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory. https://www.alhaq.org/publications/8076.html
42 NRK. (2023, oktober 27). Yara kjøper Dødehavsmineraler av omstridt israelsk selskap. https://www.nrk.no/urix/yara-kjoper-dodehavsmineraler-av-omstridt-israelsk-selskap-1.17518725
43 Who Profits. (2020, January). Agribusiness as Usual: Agricultural Technology and the Israeli Occupation. https://www.whoprofits.org/publications/report/69
44 NRK. (2023, oktober 27). Yara kjøper Dødehavsmineraler av omstridt israelsk selskap. https://www.nrk.no/urix/yara-kjoper-dodehavsmineraler-av-omstridt-israelsk-selskap-1.17518725
45 Who Profits. (n.d.). ICL Group Ltd. https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/6592?israel-chemicals-icl-group
46 Surkes, S. (2021, January 5). Ecosystem still reeling from toxic spill 3 years after Ashalim stream disaster. The Times of Israel. https://www.timesofisrael.com/ecosystem-still-reeling-from-toxic-spill-3-years-after-ashalim-stream-disaster/
47 Curiel, I. (2022, December 15). Israel slaps ICL with record fine over disastrous chemical spill. Ynetnews. https://www.ynetnews.com/environment/article/r1md0rods
48 Surkes, S. (2025, August 20). Divisive plan to mine phosphates in populated Negev area back on government agenda. The Times of Israel. https://www.timesofisrael.com/divisive-plan-to-mine-phosphates-in-populated-negev-area-back-on-government-agenda/
49 ICL Group. (2018). Philanthropy and welfare. https://2018.icl-group-sustainability.com/reports/philanthropy-and-welfare/
50 Rouhana, N. N., & Sabbagh-Khoury, A. (Eds.). (2011). The Palestinians in Israel: Readings in history, politics and society (Mada al-Carmel). https://mada-research.org/storage/uploads/2020/06/english.indd_.pdf
51 Middle East Monitor. (2025, January 22). Israel military brigade withdraws from Gaza with 86 fatalities. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250122-israel-military-brigade-withdraws-from-gaza-with-86-fatalities/
