{"id":373087,"date":"2026-10-14T17:28:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373087\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T17:28:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T17:28:44","slug":"nyc-comptroller-mark-levine-not-reinvesting-pension-funds-in-israel-bonds-in-stunning-campaign-pledge-reversal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/373087\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Comptroller Mark Levine not reinvesting pension funds in Israel bonds \u2014 in stunning campaign pledge reversal"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Comptroller Mark Levine said he\u2019s decided not to reinvest the Big Apple\u2019s pension funds<\/a> in Israel bonds \u2014 a dramatic reversal from a pledge he made during his successful campaign last year.<\/p>\n

Levine told The New York Times he made the decision solely on financial grounds, but critics suspected he was caving to Israel-bashers in the Democratic party, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always said this would be based on financial considerations only, not politics \u2014 that\u2019s still my position,\u201d Levine, who is Jewish and a professed backer of Israel, told The Times Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Comptroller Mark Levine said he\u2019s decided not to reinvest the Big Apple\u2019s pension funds in Israel bonds \u2014 despite the pledge he made during his campaign. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as of now, we feel that because of some technical challenges, and because of financial considerations, that this is not an investment that we can make right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not what Levine said during a June 2025 Democratic primary debate for comptroller \u2014 a role in charge of managing $325 billion in pensions for the city government workforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a globally diversified portfolio, and that should include investments in Israel and Israel bonds, which have paid solid dividends for 75 years,\u201d Levine said during the debate against Justin Brannan, a former Brooklyn councilman.<\/p>\n

The blowback against Levine\u2019s bait and switch was severe, including from former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who expressed concern it will fan the flames of antisemitism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were a very sound investment,\u201d Stringer, who increased investments in Israeli bonds, told The Post Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis inaction will further empower the BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] movement around the country. That is my worry.\u00a0 And it could continue to contribute to more antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism and former Brooklyn Assemblyman, called Levine a \u201ccoward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA perfect example of a coward: a sellout and a fraud trying to appease the dangerous lunatics on the left driving NY and the country off a cliff. Shame on you,\u201d Hikind said in an X post.<\/p>\n

\"DemonstratorsDemonstrators march in opposition to the genocide in Palestine during the Palestinian Youth Movement\u2019s March for Palestine \u2018For the Living, The Martyrs and The Land\u2019 in the West Village neighborhood of New York, Oct. 10, 2026. Sachyn Mital\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The previous comptroller, Brad Lander, divested $40 million in Israel bonds that New York City had invested in since the 1970s.<\/p>\n

The New York state pension system, run by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, has more than $360 million invested in the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grievously disappointed. NYS AND Palm Beach county alone hold $1 BILLION [in Israel bonds],\u201d said former CUNY trustee and financier Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, who is active in promoting Israel bonds.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere has been no change in the high quality. Because of the US 10-year treasury, the rates are the highest ever. At least be truthful.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n

Rating agencies S&P Global and Moody\u2019s downgraded Israel bonds during the war in Gaza, but then reversed it from \u201cnegative\u201d back to \u201cstable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investments averaged a 5 percent rate of return for two- and three-year bonds, which Levine indicates lags the pension system\u2019s recent performance.<\/p>\n

A Levine spokesperson responded, \u201cThe Comptroller is a strong supporter of Israel. Decisions about whether to invest Cash Desk funds in Israel Bonds, or any other financial instrument, are made strictly on financial grounds, based on what best serves the City and its pensioners.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeparately, the City\u2019s pension systems hold a total of $285.42 million in Israel-based public equities and public fixed-income investments through their broader investment portfolios.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Comptroller Mark Levine said he\u2019s decided not to reinvest the Big Apple\u2019s pension funds in Israel bonds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[60,137405,57,9,11,10,58,82],"class_list":["post-373087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-israel","tag-mark-levin","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}