At a candidate forum earlier this month, Brad Lander sidestepped a politically explosive question about whether he would as mayor push to have the city’s pension funds divest from Israeli government bonds in protest of the country’s war in Gaza.
“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 replied at the Feb. 5 mayoral candidate forum hosted by the New York Progressive Action Network, avoiding taking a stance on the hot-button issue.
But a Daily News review of city pension fund disclosures confirms Lander’s remarks were incorrect.
The city’s five funds — which control more than $270 billion in assets that bankroll pensions for retired municipal workers — hold nearly $1.7 billion in Israeli government bonds, in addition to millions of dollars in Shekel, Israel’s currency, and Israeli companies like weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, The News’ review found.
A spokesman for Lander, who in his current job as city comptroller manages the five pension funds, acknowledged those Israeli investments are active.
But the spokesman, Miguel Arreola, didn’t fully walk back Lander’s Feb. 5 comments. Even though Lander didn’t make such a distinction at the forum, Arreola said the pension funds technically aren’t “invested directly” in Israeli government bonds. Rather, Arreola said the pension funds’ Israeli bonds are held via third party investment trusts, like Vanguard.
Arreola still wouldn’t say, though, where Lander stands on the underlying issue of having the pension funds divest from Israeli government holdings, whether they are invested directly or via trusts. Lander’s foremost duty as comptroller is ensuring the fiscal health of the pension funds, so they can keep covering the monthly payments municipal retirees are entitled to, his office said.
Arreola also wouldn’t say why Lander’s office was quoted last June as telling the Chief Leader, a labor newspaper, that “none of the five systems are invested in Israeli bonds” after a group of city government workers called on him to spearhead a push for Israeli divestment.
The flap over Lander’s forum comments underscore the fraught nature of the progressive movement pushing for divesting from Israel amid its war in Gaza, which has left nearly 50,000 Palestinians dead, including thousands of children. Israel launched the war — currently in a ceasefire set to expire this weekend — in response to the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack, in which Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds more hostage.
Investment decisions by the five pension funds are made jointly by a number of trustees that include Lander. Lander hasn’t used his power as comptroller to introduce proposals for the pension funds to pull out of Israeli holdings, as many progressive activists are calling on him to do.
Days after his comments at the forum, NYPAN, which has made calling for divesting from Israeli holdings a key plank in its agenda, endorsed Lander for mayor, saying in a statement his “bold vision for our city is exactly what’s needed.”
Arthur Schwartz, NYPAN’s political director, said the group isn’t reconsidering its Lander endorsement because of the forum flub, but told The News his members will press him further on the issue.
“Though he misspoke, he was conscientious enough to follow-up and check, which we appreciate. Next time we meet with him, now that he is aware of those investments, we will ask him to explain how he will leverage those investments to stop many of the horrible things the Netanyahu Government is doing, especially in the West Bank, and potentially in support of Trump’s proposed forced exile of 2 million people from Gaza,” Schwartz said.
The conflict has set off intense debate in New York City, including in the 2025 mayoral race, in which many candidates, including Lander, have called for a permanent ceasefire in the war. Mayor Adams is one of the only candidates who hasn’t joined those calls.
While progressive groups like NYPAN have also urged Lander to pull all city government pension money out of Israel in protest of the war, he alone wouldn’t be able to make such a move on his own due to the nature of the funds’ operations. Rather, a majority of trustees at each of the five funds would need to vote in support of such a move.
The trustees include a variety of stakeholders. For instance, among the trustees overseeing the NYC Employees’ Retirement System, the city’s largest pension fund, are a mayoral representative, the comptroller, the public advocate, the five borough presidents and key labor leaders like the DC 37 head.