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State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli vowed to continue investing pension funds in Israel bonds despite a growing divestment push from pro-Palestinian activists — including Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
DiNapoli’s defense of holding Israel government bonds in the state’s massive $309.7 billion pension fund portfolio comes a week after city Comptroller Mark Levine broke a campaign promise and said he would not reinvest city pension money into Israel bonds.
The comptrollers are tasked with handling the pension investments for their governments.
“We continue to look for investment opportunities in Israel and globally that will benefit the Fund,” said a spokesman for DiNapoli, a Democrat seeking re-election to a fifth term next month against Republican challenger Joseph Hernandez.
Levine is also a Democrat.
He told pro-Israeli activist Dov Hikind that his focus on Israeli investments includes “not just bonds” but also Israeli firms selling public stock.
The New York State pension system has more than $360 million invested in the Jewish state. The investment in Israel bonds has not changed.
Hikind, a former Brooklyn assemblyman and founder of American Against Antisemitism, applauded DiNapoli and slammed Levine for “caving to pressure from Zohran Mamdani” by not reinvesting in Israel Bonds.
He praised DiNapoli for not abandoning Israel.
“Comptroller DiNapoli is looking to make additional investments in Israel I asked him to do more,” Hikind said.
The previous New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, divested $40 million in Israel bonds that New York City had invested in since the 1970s.
Levine said he’s decided not to reinvest the Big Apple’s pension funds in Israel bonds — a dramatic reversal from a pledge he made during his successful campaign last year.
Levine told the New York Times he made the decision solely on financial grounds.
“I always said this would be based on financial considerations only, not politics — that’s still my position,” Levine, who is Jewish and a professed backer of Israel, told the Times on Wednesday.
That’s not what Levine said during a June 2025 Democratic Party primary debate for comptroller—a role in charge of managing $325 billion in pensions for the city government workforce.
“We have a globally diversified portfolio, and that should include investments in Israel and Israel bonds, which have paid solid dividends for 75 years,” Levine said during the debate against Justin Brannan, a former Brooklyn councilman.
Mamdani lauded Levine’s decision.
“I welcome the comptroller’s decision It is something that I’ve said in the past that I don’t believe that our city should purchase Israel bonds,” Mamdani said last week.
“We don’t purchase the bonds of any other sovereign nation. I don’t think that we should make an exception when it comes to Israel.”
Levine’s office emphasized that the city’s pension system still has $285.42 million invested in other Israel-based “public fixed-income investments,” though not in state of Israel Bonds.
“The Comptroller is a strong supporter of Israel,” a spokesperson for the city comptroller said. “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.”