{"id":211377,"date":"2025-09-08T23:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T23:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/211377\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T23:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T23:44:15","slug":"zohran-mamdani-wants-to-divest-nyc-pension-investments-from-israel-if-elected-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/211377\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani wants to divest NYC pension investments from Israel if elected mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zohran Mamdani said he supports divesting New York City pension funds from Israel<\/a> if elected mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should not have a fund that is invested in violation of international law,\u201d Mamdani said during a Sunday interview <\/a>on CBS2 New York\u2019s \u201cThe Point with Marcia Kramer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the current comptroller\u2019s approach [Brad Lander] \u2014 as he has taken it with Israel bonds \u2014 is the right approach,\u201d he added when pressed on the issue.<\/p>\n

\"NewDemocratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said he will support New York City divesting from Israeli bonds if elected. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n

Pension funds of city government workers and retirees had about $40 million invested in State of Israel Bonds when Lander took office in 2022.<\/p>\n

But Lander \u2014 an ally of Mamdani despite losing to the socialist in the Democratic mayoral primary \u2014 in effect completely divested from the Israel bonds that New York City had invested in since the 1970s. He chose not to reinvest<\/a> in the bonds when they matured.<\/p>\n

Lander has noted the city still invests more than $300 million in Israeli firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is to figure out where we are directly implicated,\u201d Mamdani told Kramer. \u201cAnd in the city pension fund, purchasing Israel bonds, that, to me, is something that is a clear indication of our values \u2014 and we know that our values are actually with international law.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Though he hasn\u2019t made it a major focus on his mayoral campaign, Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and frontrunner, has been clear that he supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

But the Queens assemblyman \u2014 who even chanted \u201cBDS\u201d at one 2021 pro-Palestinian rally \u2014 stopped short of backing the call to divest from all Israeli companies, when asked.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticCity Comptroller Brad Lander \u2014 a close ally of Mamdani \u2014 chose not to reinvest city union funds in Israeli bonds when they expired. AP Photo\/Heather Khalifa<\/p>\n

In New York City, the mayor has appointees to the pension boards along with the comptroller and unions representing the workforce. <\/p>\n

That means Mamdani, if elected, could attempt to battle the comptroller for votes on whether to invest in Israel bonds.<\/p>\n

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine<\/a>, the Democratic nominee for comptroller who will likely take over from Lander next year, supports investing in Israel bonds, and a campaign spokesman repeated his position on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark has been clear on his position on Israel bonds throughout the campaign. As comptroller, he will work closely with the other pension fund trustees to prioritize investments which has proven stability and strong returns for pensioners,\u201d said Levine campaign spokesperson Annabel Lassally.<\/p>\n

The head of Israel Bonds, in a rare move, issued a statement in response to Mamdani\u2019s divestment comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we don\u2019t comment on the statements made by candidates, what I can say is this: Israel Bonds is proud of the unprecedented outpouring of support \u2014 more than $5.5 billion in investments since October 7 \u2014 including major commitments from local governments around the country including the State of New York,\u201d said Dani Naveh, CEO of Israel Bonds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe record-breaking investments we have seen in recent years demonstrates the confidence that Americans have in Israel\u2019s strength and future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former City Comptroller Scott Stringer slammed Mamdani\u2019s attempt to block investment in Israel bonds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny attempt by the next mayor to divest from Israel Bonds would be a colossal mistake,\u201d Stringer said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a solid investment going back to the 1970s.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani said he supports divesting New York City pension funds from Israel if elected mayor. \u201cI think…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":211378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,56666,17945,6626,15850,5289,99,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,5341,80,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-211377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bds","10":"tag-bonds","11":"tag-brad-lander","12":"tag-comptroller","13":"tag-eric-adams","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-metro","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","23":"tag-politics","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-us-news","30":"tag-usa","31":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115171338794613323","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}