NYC Comptroller Brad Lander on June 24. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh
July 14, 2025
Brad Lander, New York City’s outgoing comptroller, is defending his decision to end pension fund investments in Israel Bonds in 2023, calling it a standard financial decision.
In a letter dated July 10 and shared with the media on Sunday, First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro accused Lander of orchestrating a “sustained and coordinated” effort to divest city pension funds from Israeli sovereign bonds. Since 1974, the city has invested in Israel Bonds, debt securities issued by the Israeli government with a roughly 5% return.
Lander’s predecessors — Scott Stringer, John Liu and Bill Thompson — invested tens of millions in these bonds.
The administration of New York City Mayor Eric Adams pointed to a report that government employee pension funds had $1.17 million invested in Israel holdings, down from $30 million in 1974. Mastro accused Lander of abandoning his “fiduciary duty” to appease the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. The letter demanded documentation from Lander’s office — including internal memos, consultant reports, and communications with third parties — regarding the decision not to renew Israel bond investments.
📨 NYC Mayor Eric Adams is accusing Comptroller Brad Lander of effectively divesting from Israel by choosing not to reinvest in Israeli bonds.
In a letter sent today, First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro is requesting a formal review of that decision to be completed within a week.
⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BKgV1Ms9CL— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) July 13, 2025
Lander pushed back forcefully in a letter first shared with the Forward, rejecting the claim that his decision not to purchase new bonds in January 2023, when the holdings matured, was political. When he took office in January 2022, the city’s pension funds held $39,947,160 in Israel Bonds. Lander said he was following the city’s policy of avoiding foreign sovereign debt, treating Israel the same as other countries rather than giving it special treatment in the pension portfolio. “The BDS movement asks investors to treat Israel worse than other countries,” he wrote. “I oppose this effort.”
In an interview on Sunday, Lander confirmed that city pension funds currently hold no investments in Israel Bonds.
He said the $1.17 million purchase by the Police Pension Fund, reported by the New York Post in March, was made by a fund manager but has since been sold.
As of May, however, Lander said city pension funds still 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.
“As a Jew, I am proud that we have these investments in Israel,” Lander said. “But I’m not allowed to make investments for that reason. They have to make financial sense to be consistent with our policies and my fiduciary duty.”
Lander accused his predecessors of “making politically motivated choices” to treat Israel in a more “favorable way” than other countries.
Mark Levine, the Democratic nominee for comptroller, who is also Jewish, said in an interview during the primary that he would repurchase the bonds as part of the city’s portfolio. “This has been a rock-solid investment for decades,” he said. “Israel has never missed a bond payment, and a good, balanced portfolio should have global diversity.”
Levine added that investing in Israeli bonds is “unquestionably the right thing to do from a fiscal perspective. And I think to do otherwise is not defensible.” His Democratic rival in the primary, Councilmember Justin Brannan, also committed to doing the same.
The fight for New York’s Jewish vote
New York City is home to the largest concentration of Jews in the United States. The city’s investment in Israeli bonds was a flashpoint in the Democratic primary for mayor, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Adams attacking Lander for divesting from Israel. Many Jewish voters view the bonds as a bulwark against the BDS movement.
Lander came in third place after cross-endorsing Zohran Mamdani. Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in the primary, is reportedly launching an independent bid this week.
Mamdani, a supporter of the boycott Israel movement, said during the primary that he would divest from Israel if elected. “That’s not something that I would pursue,” Mamdani said when asked about the city strengthening economic ties with the Israeli government.
A recent survey showed that 52% of likely voters said Mamdani’s embrace of the boycott Israel movement makes them less likely to vote for him. However, 30%, including 46% of those aged 18-44, said it makes them more likely to support him.
Adams is running for reelection on an independent ballot line. Recent polls show the incumbent mayor trailing far behind Mamdani, and receiving less support than former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose name appears on an independent ballot line, and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa.
In recent weeks, Adams has sought to draw a sharp contrast with Mamdani over support for Israel.
The mayor has made courting Jewish voters central to his campaign strategy after trailing far behind in recent polls. He launched a mayor’s office to combat antisemitism. He also signed an executive order adopting the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which considers most forms of anti-Zionism as antisemitic. In May, Adams announced the creation of the New York City–Israel Economic Council, an initiative to strengthen economic ties with the Jewish state.
Adams and Lander trading barbs
The letter sent to Lander seems to be another move to draw a distinction. Pundits expect Lander, who has become a key figure in Mamdani’s outreach to the Jewish community, to play an influential role in the next administration if Mamdani wins the general election in November.
“Brad Lander was elected to safeguard New York City’s financial future, yet he continues to pander to the antisemitic BDS movement at the expense of taxpayer dollars and our city’s best interests,” Adams said in a statement on Sunday.
Lander fired back in his response, calling it a “cynical effort” to “exploit division” for political benefit.
In the interview, Lander suggested Adams was using the bond lapse for “his own, craven, personal and political purposes.”
“I think this letter is one more pathetic attempt to try to curry favor with Jewish voters, rather than speak to the issues that really matter in New York City,” Lander said.
