{"id":485463,"date":"2026-01-01T20:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/485463\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T20:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:04:15","slug":"exclusive-ny-raj-goyle-pledges-to-divest-from-israel-accuses-netanyahu-of-war-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/485463\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | NY Raj Goyle pledges to divest from Israel, accuses Netanyahu of war crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBANY \u2014\u00a0Insurgent Democratic candidate for state comptroller Raj Goyle<\/a> wants to fully divest $338 million in foreign assets \u2014 including Israel bonds \u2014 from New York\u2019s retirement fund, he told a gathering of Working Families Party supporters recently.<\/p>\n

Goyle, a tech executive and lawyer,\u00a0is staking out the anti-Israel position in his long-shot bid to unseat longtime Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who has stood by the state\u2019s \u201cIsrael bond\u201d holdings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to tell you that when I am comptroller, we will not renew the foreign bond portfolio of the state comptroller\u2019s office and that includes Israel bonds,\u201d Goyle said during an event kicking off the party\u2019s lefty \u201cWorking Families Party Guarantee\u201d agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raj Goyle accused state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli of sending \u201ca blank check for Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s war crimes in Gaza\u201d by investing the state pension fund in Israel bonds. Raj Goyle Campaign<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not send a blank check for Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s war crimes in Gaza,\u201d the ex-Kansas state legislator said.<\/p>\n

The Common Retirement Fund, one of the largest and most robust pension funds in the country, is run by the state comptroller\u2019s office and manages pensions for state and municipal workers. <\/p>\n

The CRF currently holds about $337.5 million in Israel bonds, as part of a massive $291 billion investment portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re stable, they\u2019re guaranteed, they\u2019ve never had a problem and it\u2019s a good investment,\u201d Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens), former chair of the New York City Council Finance Committee, told The Post.<\/p>\n

Weprin, who is supportive of DiNapoli\u2019s handling of the Israel bonds, said they\u2019re a good way to back a US ally with deep ties to New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time you\u2019re making a good investment, you\u2019re sending a message to the pro-Israel community,\u201d Weprin said.<\/p>\n

Goyle\u2019s campaign argues that credit rating agency Moody\u2019s downgrading of Israel\u2019s credit rating following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas is enough reason to consider it a \u201crisky\u201d investment, and that the state should not be leveraging its pension fund to support Israel.<\/p>\n

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli Office of the New York State Comptroller<\/p>\n

\u201cRaj Goyle has a laser focus on investing in and protecting New York. Instead of playing politics and chasing mediocre returns with risky foreign bonds like Tom DiNapoli, Raj will put more money in the pockets of New Yorkers and use the office to fight the affordability crisis plaguing the state,\u201d Goyle\u2019s campaign manager, Jyot Singh, told The Post in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a bare minimum, public pension dollars should not be funding human rights violations abroad,\u201d Singh added.<\/p>\n

DiNapoli\u2019s campaign declined to comment.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s massive $291 billion pension fund invests in foreign bond offerings, including a relatively large holding of Israel bonds. REUTERS<\/p>\n

The incumbent comptroller invested an additional $20 million in Israel bonds in the aftermath of Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 massacre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to providing a steady return for our pension fund\u2019s members, Israel bonds help support one of our nation\u2019s strongest allies,\u201d DiNapoli said in a statement at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am heartened that so many other public funds have stepped forward to purchase bonds and support Israel, the only democratic government in the region, during these tragic and challenging days.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiNapoli has run on the Working Families Party\u2019s ballot line in all of his re-election campaigns since 2014.<\/p>\n

Former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander notably refused to renew some Israel bonds in the city\u2019s pension fund, a separate entity, in 2025.<\/p>\n

DiNapoli currently faces a primary challenge from Goyle along with former housing nonprofit CEO Drew Warshaw<\/a> and ex-Brooklyn congressional candidate Adem Bunkeddeko.<\/p>\n

Joseph Hernandez has declared<\/a> a bid to challenge DiNapoli on the GOP line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY \u2014\u00a0Insurgent Democratic candidate for state comptroller Raj Goyle wants to fully divest $338 million in foreign assets…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":485464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[20184,5229,15850,7033,6335,373,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,64906,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-485463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-albany","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-comptroller","11":"tag-democrats","12":"tag-exclusive","13":"tag-israel-hamas-war","14":"tag-metro","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-newyork","18":"tag-newyorkcity","19":"tag-ny","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-tom-dinapoli","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-us-news","28":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115821639397279040","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485463","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=485463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}