Mamdani pledges to cut NYC’s financial ties to Israel

The anti-Israel frontrunner in the upcoming election would also bar police from intervening in pro-Palestinian campus protests.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani said Sunday that he would end the city’s financial ties to Israel, citing “international law.”

In an interview on CBS’ The Point, political correspondent Marcia Kramer asked him if he would direct the city’s pension funds to divest from companies tied to Israel and sell off their “large” holdings of Israeli bonds.

“I believe that wherever we have been put in violation of international law through the policies of this current administration, that we should come back to compliance,” he answered.

“For example, this current mayor not only met with Israeli settler leaders but even promised greater cooperation between this city and that movement,” he continued.

Many countries consider Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria illegal, though the United Nations recognized Jewish rights to the area in its founding charter.

Specifically on Israeli bonds, Mamdani said, “That to me is something that is a clear indication of our values, and we know that our values are actually with international law.”

He praised the current comptroller for taking “the right approach.”

In July, Mayor Eric Adams accused Comptroller Brad Lander of “effectively withdraw[ing]” New York’s pension funds from Israeli bonds by letting them mature without reinvestment.

The city held tens of millions of dollars of Israeli bonds in its portfolio for decades, as they have been a safe investment with good returns, the mayor’s office wrote to Lander. Now, however, only about $1 million was left in a single pension fund.

Adams said the pullback hurt the city financially and advanced the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.

While supporting BDS is not illegal in the city, New York State law bars state agencies from investing in or working with entities that boycott Israel.

Lander responded that buying Israeli bonds was a “political decision, not a fiduciary one,” and past comptrollers “chose to depart from standard cash management best practices” by purchasing them.

Mamdani has long backed BDS as part of his anti-Israel platform.

At a rally Saturday night hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders at Brooklyn College, Mamdani said he would not allow police to break up pro-Hamas demonstrations on campuses.

Despite university administrations calling in police over the past year and a half of anti-Israel rallies only when they turned violent or rioters caused heavy damage to college property, Mamdani said the authorities were “turning solidarity with the Palestinians into a crime.”

“I am committed to ensuring that students can demonstrate and voice their opinions without fear of police” arresting them, he said.