Standing with members of Brooklyn’s Jewish community in Flatbush, Republican candidate for State Comptroller Joseph Hernandez pledged today that the state pension fund will purchase $1 billion in Israel Bonds. The purchase would add to the fund’s existing holdings and cover what New York City refused to buy..
The pledge follows New York City Comptroller Mark Levine’s reversal of his campaign promise to reinvest the city’s pension funds in Israel Bonds, a decision Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he welcomed. The city’s pension funds held Israel Bonds from 1974 until former Comptroller Brad Lander let $39 million lapse in 2023. He never restored them, even after the October 7 attack. Levine campaigned on bringing them back, pointing out that the bonds had never missed a payment in 80 years.
The pressure isn’t stopping at City Hall. Activist groups have threatened litigation to force both the city and the state to divest. Tom DiNapoli, who controls the state fund as sole trustee, is running on the Working Families Party line.
“Mark Levine promised this community he would bring these bonds back, and when the pressure came, he broke that promise,” said Hernandez. “New York City walked away. I’m stepping in. These bonds have never missed a payment. Standing with our friends is the right thing to do, and it’s a smart investment for pensioners.”
“Tom DiNapoli is cut from the same cloth as Levine and Lander,” Hernandez continued. “He’s endorsed by the same Working Families Party pushing politics into our pension fund. New Yorkers deserve moral clarity. When I’m Comptroller, New York keeps its word.”
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