A fight over New York City’s pension investments has turned into a high-profile clash over Israel, with Mayor Eric Adams accusing Comptroller Brad Lander of quietly divesting from Israel bonds in a move he says echoes the goals of the BDS movement.
In a letter sent by a deputy on Sunday, Adams alleged that Lander had effectively withdrawn city pension funds from Israeli bonds and questioned whether the decision was influenced by political considerations. He demanded that Lander turn over all documents and communications related to the matter within a week.
Lander, who is Jewish and identifies as a progressive Zionist, rejected the accusations in a response made public Monday in an article published by the Forward. He confirmed that under his watch, the city had allowed its Israel bond holdings to mature without reinvestment, but said the move was in line with financial management guidelines, rather than a political statement.
“The BDS Movement asks investors to treat Israel worse than other countries; I oppose this effort,” Lander wrote. “You appear to be asking that the city’s pension funds treat Israel better than all other countries. That would also be politically motivated, and inconsistent with fiduciary duty.”
The spat highlights longstanding tensions between the two officials, who have frequently clashed over policy and budget issues. It also comes as Israel looms large in the city’s upcoming mayoral election.
Lander supported Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist and outspoken critic of Israel, in the city’s ranked-choice Democratic primary. Mamdani, a longtime supporter of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targeting Israel, won the nomination last month. Adams, who is not Jewish but has made pro-Israel advocacy a centerpiece of his reelection campaign, is running as an independent.
The city’s pension funds had held tens of millions of dollars in Israel bonds for decades, and when Lander took office in January 2022, the holdings were valued at about $39 million. Lander allowed the bonds to mature without renewing them, letting the total investment drop to zero.
“This policy appears to target only Israel bonds,” reads the letter, sent on behalf of the Adams administration by Randy Mastro, the first deputy mayor. “This divestment, occurring amid a global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, appears to be in furtherance of that BDS campaign.”
The Mastro letter characterized the bonds as a safe investment with strong returns, and said that withdrawing from them represents a lost opportunity for city pension funds.
Lander denied that accusation and pointed out that the city’s pension system still holds more than $315 million in Israeli assets, primarily in common stocks. He also noted that the original decision to purchase Israel bonds had been made without proper credit analysis or risk assessment, calling it “a political decision, not a fiduciary one.”
The dropping of Israel bonds in New York City comes as some other local and state governments across the United States are making record investments in the Israeli foreign debt. The officials in charge of these moves are typically well known for their pro-Israel politics, but they say that the decision to invest in Israel bonds is justified entirely by the vehicles’ performance and risk level.
The accusation that Lander was boycotting Israel through his Israel bonds decision surfaced in March in a New York Post article — before the current political map became clear.
The renewed dispute comes as candidates gear up for the mayoral election in November. Lander is an ally to Mamdani, who has stirred controversy with anti-Israel rhetoric, including a refusal to denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada” and a promise to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he visit New York.
Adams has seized on those comments to frame Mamdani as extreme. “I don’t know his fixation with Israel,” Adams said in a recent appearance on the Mo News podcast. “He said, ‘I don’t dislike Jewish people, I just dislike Israel.’ Duh, Jewish people live in Israel.”
Adams has made several recent moves that are being seen as an attempt to court the Jewish vote in the city, including creating a citywide task force on antisemitism and signing an executive order to adopt a definition of antisemitism favored by many Jewish groups.
In addition to Mamdani and Adams, the field includes former Gov. Andrew Cuomo running as an independent, Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden. With the moderate vote split, Mamdani enters the race as the presumptive favorite in the heavily Democratic city.
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