New York City Comptroller Mark Levine refused to reinvest the city's $325 billion pension system in Israel Bonds, breaking a campaign promise to Jewish voters and drawing praise from the BDS movement and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine will not reinvest the city's pension money in Israel Bonds, walking back a promise he made to Jewish voters during last year's campaign. The reversal, confirmed in an interview published Wednesday, keeps roughly $325 billion in retirement assets for city workers out of Israeli government debt even though Levine had pledged during his successful run to restore the investment.
Levine, who is Jewish and describes himself as a strong supporter of Israel, says the decision rests on financial analysis rather than politics. Critics in the city's Jewish community disagree, and they say the move hands a symbolic victory to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement at the moment it is pressing hardest in American cities.
The promise came during a June 2025 Democratic primary debate for comptroller. Asked about the city's portfolio, Levine was direct: "We have a globally diversified portfolio, and that should include investments in Israel and Israel bonds, which have paid solid dividends for 75 years."
He won the race and took office in January 2026, vowing to undo the divestment ordered by his predecessor, Brad Lander, who in 2025 liquidated $40 million in Israel Bonds that New York City had held since the 1970s. Lander now calls Levine's decision confirmation of his own approach and says he will oppose U.S. military aid to Israel as a member of Congress.
Ten months into the job, Levine told The New York Times the city would not resume purchases. "I always said this would be based on financial considerations only, not politics -- that's still my position," he said, adding that the city's relationship with Israel remains "deeply important."
Levine's office points to a Fitch analysis that flagged upcoming Israeli elections as a stability risk, along with rising Israeli state debt and the possibility of further military exchanges with Iran or Hezbollah. The comptroller said "technical challenges" and portfolio performance left the bonds off the table for now.
His own predecessor, Scott Stringer, dismissed that reasoning. "The notion that they are not a worthy investment today is simply nonsense," Stringer said, pointing to the returns the debt delivered while he ran the office from 2014 to 2022. "The job of the comptroller, and the pension fund, is to create an asset allocation for the long term."
The Development Corporation for Israel, which underwrites the bonds, notes that the State of Israel has made every principal and interest payment on time since 1951, including every payment owed to New York City's pension funds for nearly fifty years. Institutional and retail investors have bought more than $8.5 billion in Israel Bonds since October 2023, and rating agencies that downgraded the debt during the Gaza war have since returned their outlook to stable.
Levine's office counters that the pension systems still carry about $285 million in Israel-based public equities and fixed-income investments through broader portfolios. The state pension system run by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli holds more than $360 million in Israel Bonds.
The decision drew praise from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has repeatedly clashed with Israeli officials and urged New Yorkers into the streets ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's UN visit.
Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist group, declared a "MAJOR BDS VICTORY IN NEW YORK CITY" and said Levine had bowed to grassroots pressure.
Stringer warned the fallout will land on Jewish New Yorkers. "This inaction will further empower the BDS movement around the country," he said. "That is my worry. And it could continue to contribute to more antisemitism."
Dov Hikind, a former Brooklyn assemblyman who founded Americans Against Antisemitism, called Levine a "coward" and a "sellout" in a post on X. Moshe Davis, who ran the city's office to combat antisemitism under former Mayor Eric Adams, said the comptroller "knew all of this when he campaigned to buy them" and that caving to anti-Israel propaganda leaves pensioners paying the price.
Levine's office says its analysis is ongoing, and Israel Bonds says it expects to sit down with the comptroller and his team. That leaves the door cracked for another reversal -- the third shift on the same investment in three years.
For now the political math is simple. A Democratic official in a deep-blue city broke a promise to Jewish voters, drew praise from the city's most prominent Israel critic, and handed activists a headline they intend to use in every city hall and statehouse where they are pushing divestment. Republicans and pro-Israel Democrats will be watching whether the pressure campaign spreads to the state pension fund, county governments and the 2026 midterms, where the fight over Israel policy has already split the Democratic coalition.
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine refused to reinvest the city's $325 billion pension system in Israel Bonds, breaking a campaign promise to Jewish voters and drawing praise from the BDS movement and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
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