NYC Comptroller Brad Lander accused of ‘divesting’ pension funds from Israel

It’s a tale of two investment strategies.

New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander is being accused of “divesting” city pension funds from government bonds of the State of Israel — allegedly breaking from his predecessors and state counterpart in a politically charged move.

New York City first invested $30 million in State of Israel Bonds in 1974 under former city Comptroller Harrison Goldin, via the pension funds for educators, the Teachers Retirement pension system.

Over the years, successive city Comptrollers Bill Thompson, John Liu and Scott Stringer have reinvested in State of Israel bonds when bonds matured.

The New York State pension system, run by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, also has $363.9 million invested in the Jewish State.

Israel bonds are considered a solid investment, accumulating about 5% returns on average per year, records show.

But Lander’s office said that the pension funds of government employees of New York City — the municipality with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel — is now only $1.17 million.

Only the Police Pension Fund owns a small position of $1.17 million in Israeli Yankee bonds.

Lander’s office claimed that the New York City pension funds do not invest directly in foreign sovereign debt — the bonds of other countries.

But investors in Israeli bonds said Lander is full of it — because prior comptrollers have.

Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a former CUNY trustee and Israel bond investor, accused Lander of engaging in “passive divestment” by not reinvesting in Israel bonds when ones held expire.

“Lander is divesting from Israel for political reasons. He wants to be allied with his pro-Jihadi, anti-Israel contingent,” Wiesenfeld said.

He also claimed Lander is violating his fiduciary duties because Israel bonds post positive returns for investors.

By comparison, Weisenfeld called DiNapoli a “special mensch” for standing up for Israel amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.

“I and many Republicans admire Tom DiNapoli for his personal fairness and decency, attributes that make him unique in New York politics. He’s a special mensch,” Wiesenfeld said of the Democrat.

DiNapoli, the sole trustee of the state’s pension fund, has invested $363.9 million in State of Israel bonds. This includes $327.1 million of Development Corp. for Israel bonds and $36.8 million of Public State of Israel debt.

Before Lander became comptroller, the city pension funds were invested in Israeli bonds as part of the office’s global fixed portfolio during his predecessor Stringer’s eight years in office from 2014 to 2021, according to a spokesperson for the latter.

Stringer is running against Lander in the Democratic primary for mayor. He declined to comment on the Israel portfolio plummeting under Lander.

The votes of pro-Israel Jewish voters as well as critics of the Jewish state could determine who wins the Democratic primary for mayor.

Lander, through a spokesperson, declined to comment when asked whether he and reps on pension boards he serves on decided not to reinvest in Israel bonds when they matured.

But he stressed that he doesn’t support the BDS movement to divest from Israel.

“Comptroller Lander does not support – and has never supported – boycott, divestment, or sanctions against Israel,” the spokesperson said.

“The New York City pension funds do not invest directly in the bonds of any foreign countries, but they do invest in debt and equity positions in many Israeli-owned companies – just as they do in companies whose owners are Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, Chinese, Saudi Arabians, and many other nationalities.”

Lander first raised eyebrows over his stand on investing in Israeli bonds when he was asked about it during a forum hosted last month by the New York Progressive Action Network.

“We don’t have any Israeli bonds because that’s just, that’s a category of investments that we don’t currently, that we don’t have,” he said at the Feb. 5 mayoral forum, first reported by The Daily News.