‘The wrong message’: Jewish groups slam Brad Lander for divesting from Israel
Lander, the New York City Comptroller, said he was hewing to longstanding policy when he divested from Israel bonds
NYC mayoral candidates Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander on June 24. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh July 15, 2025
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s recent revelation that his office ended all city pension investments in Israel Bonds in 2023 is drawing fierce pushback from the Jewish establishment.
“At a time when Israel faces attacks, when antisemitism is on the rise both globally and locally, and when Jewish New Yorkers look to public officials for moral clarity, this kind of divestment sends exactly the wrong message,” William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the Forward on Tuesday in an interview from Jerusalem.
Lander, the city’s chief fiscal officer, confirmed on Sunday that he ended a 50-year record of pension fund investments in Israel Bonds in 2023 after they matured. He said the decision was not political. The city has invested in Israel bonds since 1974.
Lander has endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor in the general election in November. Mamdani has said he backs divestment from Israel. The Democratic nominee to replace Lander as comptroller, Mark Levine, has said he will reinvest in Israel Bonds.
The Bonds, launched in 1951 to encourage investment in the fledgling state, are debt securities issued by the Israeli government with a roughly 5% return. When Lander took office in January 2022, the city’s pension funds held $39 million in Israel Bonds. Lander’s predecessors — Scott Stringer, John Liu and Bill Thompson — purchased tens of millions of dollars in bonds.
The office of Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for reelection on an independent “End Antisemitism” line, accused Lander of abandoning his “fiduciary duty” to appease the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel.
A letter Adams sent to Lander last week demanded documentation from Lander’s office — including internal memos, consultant reports, and communications with third parties — regarding the decision not to renew Israel Bonds investments.
Lander said he was adhering to the city’s policy of avoiding foreign sovereign debt and rejected the claim that he was supporting BDS. “The BDS movement asks investors to treat Israel worse than other countries,” he wrote. “I oppose this effort.”
He also accused his predecessors of “making politically motivated choices” to treat Israel in a more “favorable way” than other countries.
Stringer, who served as comptroller from 2013 to 2022, fired back at Lander, calling his 2023 decision “BDS at its worst.”
“I’m proud I invested in Israeli bonds because it was an excellent investment for New York City pensioners,” Stringer said in an interview on Tuesday. “Thankfully, Mark Levine will fix this in January.”
Jewish reaction
Asked for comment, Israel Bonds did not directly address Lander’s revelation. Instead, Dani Naveh, the Israel Bonds chief executive, said that since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel the agency has seen an increase in investments from bipartisan institutions across the United States, including Florida, Illinois, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania.
“The unprecedented, over $5 billion raised globally since October 7 – almost half from local governments – is a historic show of solidarity that speaks louder than any attempt to delegitimize our partnership,” he said. “Israel Bonds has long weathered attempts by the BDS movement and other anti-Israel campaigns to delegitimize this support. When such movements call for divestment, our message is clear: we will double down, not back down.”
Tom DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller, said in November 2023 that his office had purchased $70 million in Israel Bonds since the Oct. 7 attack. The current total state investment is about $340 million.
Lander told the Forward he was proud of other investments in Israeli companies he supervised, which he said hewed to the city’s investment policies.
He said that as of May, city pension funds held more than $315 million in Israel-based assets, including nearly $300 million in common stock and over $1 million in Israeli real estate investment trusts.
Mark Treyger, chefs executive of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said he’s “deeply grateful” to Levine for committing to repurchasing these bonds and for “highlighting their importance throughout his campaign.”
Daroff called Lander’s position on the Israel Bonds fringe. “Supporting Israel is good policy, good politics, and, most importantly, the right thing to do,” he said. “Mainstream Democrats and Republicans do not agree on much these days, but they agree on this: divesting from the world’s only Jewish state is a fringe position.”
Josh Kramer, the American Jewish Committee’s New York director, said support for Israel Bonds has grown in recent years “through the actions of leaders from both sides of the aisle. It’s good for America and our close ally Israel.”
Abe Foxman, the retired national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was “scandalous” that the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel divested all its investments in Israel Bonds. ”It is in response to the political pressure to divest from Israel coming from the progressive political left,” he said. “Lander should be ashamed for succumbing to the pressure and pay political consequences.”
Lander’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Eliana Goodman, director of public policy for the Combat Antisemitism Movement, a pro-Israel group, said the move, ending half a century of precedent, “makes us question the timing and ask if a double standard is being applied here. Jewish New Yorkers know the answer.”
