NYC mayoral candidate calls to end investments in Israel

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, has announced that if elected he will push for a permanent halt to investments in Israeli government bonds, a position that has raised concerns among Jewish leaders and his political allies.

Mamdani said in an interview with CBS New York’s The Point with Marcia Kramer that “we should not hold a fund that is invested in violations of international law.”

Outgoing city comptroller Brad Lander, a political ally of Mamdani, ended in 2023 the decades-old practice of investing millions of dollars in Israeli government bonds. When Lander took office in January 2022, New York City’s pension funds held $39 million in Israeli bonds, generating an annual yield of about 5%. As chief financial officer overseeing the city’s pension funds, Lander, who is Jewish, decided not to purchase new bonds once the existing ones matured in January 2023. He said he acted in line with city policy to avoid foreign government debt, treating Israel like any other country rather than giving it preferential treatment in the portfolio.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New York. Photo: AFP AFP

Jewish groups and community leaders criticized that decision. Mamdani, who supports the boycott movement against Israel and pledged during the Democratic primary campaign to end financial ties with the Israeli government, said he backed Lander’s move as a political statement.

“I think the comptroller’s approach, as he applied it with Israeli bonds, is the right one,” Mamdani said. However, he stopped short of endorsing the boycott movement’s broader call to divest from all Israeli companies.

As of May, the city’s pension funds held more than $315 million in Israeli assets, including nearly $300 million in common stock and more than $1 million in Israeli real estate funds.

“The most important thing is to understand where we are directly involved,” Mamdani said. “And when the city pension fund buys Israeli bonds, I think that clearly signals our values – and we know that our values are aligned with international law.”