Pension fund divestment from major firms that do business with Israel could cost New York City pension funds and taxpayers more than $37 billion over the next decade, claims a new report released W…
could cost New York City pension funds and taxpayers more than $37 billion over the next decade, claims a new report released Wednesday.supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel and has representation on each of the city’s five public employee retirement systems or pension boards — making such divestment more possible under his administration, according to the analysis conducted by the Anti-Defamation League and its affiliate, JLens.
The analysis compared the 10-year performance of two hypothetical large-cap US equity portfolios: one including 47 major American firms that do business with Israel and are targeted by the BDS movement and one excluding them. Pension fund divestment from major firms that do business with Israel could cost New York City pension funds and taxpayers more than $37 billion over the next decade, claims a new report released WednesdayThe targeted firms include Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Boeing, Bank of America, Chevron, Cisco, Ford, IBM, Intel, McDonald’s, Meta, JP Morgan Chase and Exxon Mobil, among others.
The analysis found an approximately two-percentage-point annualized performance gap — 11.7% return for the index with BDS-targeted firm excluded compared to 13.7% return of the equity index with the BDS-targeted firms included. Applying that performance gap to the city pension funds’ estimated large-cap US public equity allocations over a future 10-year period, the report estimates a potential loss of value of $37.55 billion.government funds from Israel bonds when they matured.
Current Comptroller Mark Levine, who manages investments for the pension funds, said he would invest in Israel bonds and Israeli firms. The report emphasized that the projected underperformance could have implications beyond the pension funds’ balance sheet. Any shortfall in investment returns must be offset through higher employer contributions made by New York City and taxpayers via the city budget.
The increased pension obligations could force the city to “redirect financial resources away from essential municipal services, reduce spending in areas such as education, public safety, or social services, or raise revenues through higher taxes or fees,” the report said.
“While some in New York, including Mayor Mamdani, have publicly supported the BDS movement, an international campaign aimed at isolating and delegitimizing the world’s only Jewish state, this analysis highlights the potentially serious financial consequences of applying BDS-aligned divestment strategies to the city’s pension funds,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and national director. “This research shows that divestment strategies guided by the BDS campaign can be bad fiscal policy, and we believe that they risk contributing to an environment where Jewish New Yorkers are already targeted and marginalized.
” The pension system includes five separate funds: the Teachers’ Retirement System, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the New York City Police Pension Fund, the New York City Fire Pension Fund , and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System.
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