NYC mayor feuds with comptroller over Israel bond investments

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Sunday sent a letter to city comptroller Brad Lander, accusing Lander of effectively disinvesting from Israel bonds and linking the policy to the boycott campaign targeting Israel.

Lander rejected the accusations in a letter to Adams’s office, confirming that the city no longer held Israel bonds, but saying the decision against reinvesting in the bonds was in line with his office’s guidelines and not political.

Lander, as comptroller, is the highest-ranking Jew in the city government and identifies as a progressive Zionist. He partnered with New York City Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a harsh critic of Israel, during the city’s Democratic party mayoral campaign. Mamdani is a longtime supporter of the BDS campaign targeting Israel.

Mamdani won the campaign and is now the party’s nominee for the mayoral general election in November, when he will face off against Adams, who is running as an independent. Adams, who is not Jewish, is a staunch supporter of Israel who has leaned into the Jewish vote during the early stages of his reelection campaign.

Adams’s first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, sent a letter Sunday on behalf of the Adams administration requesting a review of decision-making and “effective withdrawal” of New York City pension funds from Israel bonds. As comptroller, Lander is responsible for the city’s financial policy and acts as a check on the mayor. Adams and Lander have long had an adversarial relationship.

The Adams letter said “the public record is incomplete” regarding Lander’s Israel bonds investment policies. The mayor’s office said it appeared the city’s pension systems had held tens of millions of dollars in the bonds for decades, resulting in healthy returns with low risk. Under Lander, the bond holdings dropped to less than $1.2 million in the NYPD pension fund, the letter said, accusing Lander of a “sustained and coordinated decision” against reinvestment that had hurt the city’s investment returns because the Israeli bonds outperformed other similar assets.

Disputing Lander’s previous defense, that he had limited investment in all foreign debt, the mayor’s office said that Israel was the only country the city had bought bonds from, according to a copy of the letter Adams’s office shared with The Times of Israel.

“This policy appears to target only Israel bonds. This divestment, occurring amid a global ‘Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)’ campaign against Israel, appears to be in furtherance of that BDS campaign,” the letter said.

Adams’s office requested all documents and communications surrounding the Israel bonds policy, including communications with third parties. The letter gave Lander one week to supply the information “because this matter implicates the financial security of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.”

Lander disputed the mayor’s accusations in a response shared with The Times of Israel on Monday.

Lander mocked the mayor’s administration, saying it was “in poor position to question others about their legal and ethical obligations,” an apparent reference to corruption allegations.

He confirmed that New York City had not reinvested in Israel bonds when they matured, does not hold any Israel bonds, and that Israel had been the only country the city had held bonds in. He said the purchase of the assets in the first place had been politically motivated, though, and at odds with his financial responsibilities.

“Prior Comptrollers chose to depart from standard cash management best practices to purchase Israel bonds,” the letter said. “There was no credit process in place, no risk management, and no documentation for how purchases were approved.”

The investment was “a political decision, not a fiduciary one,” the letter said. The city had held more than $39 million in Israel bonds when Lander took office in January 2022. The bonds matured a year later, and the comptroller’s office had decided not to reinvest, in line with guidelines.

The city holds other Israeli assets, Lander said, countering the BDS charge. In May 2025, during the most recent audit, the city’s public pension systems held more than $315 million in Israeli assets, mostly common stocks.

Lander said that, under his stewardship, for the third consecutive year, the city’s investments had outperformed the 7% return targeted by the New York State legislature.

“We treat investments in Israel as we treat investments in any other country. No better, and no worse. The BDS Movement asks investors to treat Israel worse than other countries; I oppose this effort,” Lander said. “You appear to be asking that the City’s pension funds treat Israel better than all other countries. That would also be politically motivated, and inconsistent with fiduciary duty.”

He accused Adams of seeking to “exploit division” with the charges, adding, “I reject these cynical efforts.”

During the mayoral primary, Lander and Mamdani cross-endorsed each other, meaning they asked their supporters to rank the other candidate second in the city’s ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to select up to five candidates in order of preference. The cross-endorsement was a boost to both campaigns, but primarily Mamdani, because Lander was eliminated as a candidate during the vote counting. His supporters helped Mamdani win the election.

The runner-up was former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who had appealed to Jewish voters and highlighted his support for Israel throughout the campaign. Cuomo has registered as an independent and will be on the ballot again for the general election.

Mamdani caused repeated controversies during the campaign with his anti-Israel rhetoric, especially his defense of the phrase “Globalize the intifada.”

Mamdani, as the Democratic party nominee in the mostly Democratic city, is the heavy favorite to win the November general election. In addition to Adams and Cuomo, his other opponents are Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Jim Walden. Mamdani’s opponents are concerned his four opponents will split the moderate and conservative vote, boosting Mamdani’s chances of winning.

Adams has repeatedly criticized Mamdani’s anti-Israel rhetoric in recent weeks, such as his vow to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if Netanyahu visits New York while Mamdani is mayor, an arrest that a New York City mayor almost certainly could not enforce.

“He would say anything to get elected,” Adams said in a Thursday interview with the Mo News podcast. “I don’t know his fixation with Israel. He said, ‘I don’t dislike Jewish people, I just dislike Israel.’ Duh, Jewish people live in Israel.”

Adams has rolled out a series of pro-Jewish policies in recent months, including opening a citywide task force on antisemitism, adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism for the city government, and establishing a business council to build economic ties between New York City and Israel. He appeared with Jewish leaders at his official campaign launch last month.