Opinion: New York pension dollars shouldn’t be financing war abroad

Your New York retirement savings are funding a government that's committing genocide. And on June 23, New Yorkers have a chance to do something about it.

As the next New York State comptroller, I will divest from the foreign bonds portfolio, especially Israeli bonds, on day one.

The New York State pension fund, built on the retirement savings of teachers, firefighters and public workers, holds about $340 million in Israeli government bonds. This makes up more than half of the foreign bond portfolio. This isn't a foreign policy issue. It's a state issue, and it's decided by one person: the New York state comptroller.

As Israel drops bombs on Gaza, flattening neighborhoods and killing tens of thousands of civilians, humanitarian groups call the violence what it is: genocide. Yet that money has remained right where it is.

The comptroller manages $300 billion in pension assets, one of the largest public funds in the world. He alone decides where it goes. Israeli government bonds aren't neutral. They carry moral, political and financial risk – and they've underperformed for years. With yields around 5%, they lag common index funds by over 3%, costing retirees tens of millions of dollars every year.

The New York pension fund's 7.74% 10-year annualized return has underperformed its peers; Washington state's rate of return is 10.2% and Florida's is 8.01%. Just a few percentage points translate to billions in potential gains lost. The fund has relied heavily on costly Wall Street management and investments that raise serious questions about priorities.

Imagine those same dollars invested at home in New York, in affordable housing mortgage bonds. The risk and liquidity would be the same, but the payoff would be measured in new housing, jobs and stronger communities right here in New York. Instead, our pension fund is lending money to a government accused of war crimes.

And it doesn't stop there. The fund holds $430 million in Palantir, a company whose software helps ICE track and deport immigrants. It's loaded up with fossil fuel stocks, the very companies driving the climate crisis and bleeding value as the world moves away from oil and gas.

The job is simple: protect our blue-collar workers, grow their savings, and never compromise the moral trust that union workers and state employees place in their government.

As comptroller, I would divest from the entire foreign bond portfolio and invest in New York. It's time to bring it home.