NYC Comptroller Brad Lander accused of divesting pension funds from Israel

It’s a tale of two investment strategies.New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander is being accused of “divesting” city pension funds from government bonds of the State of Israel — allegedly breaking from his predecessors and state counterpart in a politically charged move.New York City first invested $30 million in State of Israel Bonds in 1974 under former city Comptroller Harrison Goldin, via the pension funds for educators, the Teachers Retirement pension system.Over the years, successive city Comptrollers Bill Thompson, John Liu and Scott Stringer have reinvested in State of Israel bonds when bonds matured.The New York State pension system, run by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, also has $363.9 million invested in the Jewish State.Israel bonds are considered a solid investment, accumulating about 5% returns on average per year, records show.But Lander’s office said that the pension funds of government employees of New York City — the municipality with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel — is now only $1.17 million.Only the Police Pension Fund owns a small position of $1.17 million in Israeli Yankee bonds.Lander’s office claimed that the New York City pension funds do not invest directly in foreign sovereign debt — the bonds of other countries.But investors in Israeli bonds said Lander is full of it — because prior comptrollers have.Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a former CUNY trustee and Israel bond investor, accused Lander of engaging in “passive divestment” by not reinvesting in Israel bonds when ones held expire.“Lander is divesting from Israel for political reasons.He wants to be allied with his pro-Jihadi, anti-Israel contingent,” Wiesenfeld said.He also claimed Lander is violating his fiduciary duties because Israel bonds post positive returns for investors.By comparison, Weisenfeld called DiNapoli a “special mensch” for standing up for Israel amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.“I and many Republicans adm...