Divestment from companies operating in Israel could impose costs exceeding $37 billion on New York City taxpayers over the next ten years, according to a new analysis released by the Anti-Defamation League.

Prepared in partnership with its affiliate JLens, the report assesses how investment rules that bar firms with Israeli business ties would affect the city pension funds.

The study contrasts the decade-long results of two model large-cap US equity portfolios. One maintains broad diversification while the other removes 47 major American companies frequently targeted by the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, including Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Additional results indicate that the portfolio avoiding those companies lagged by roughly two percentage points each year. Compounded across time, this gap produces meaningful differences in overall returns.

Applying a similar shortfall to the city pension funds large-cap US equity holdings yields an estimated $37.55 billion in missed value over ten years.

Pension funds and related portfolios face tens of billions in reduced gains

The complete study provides forecasts for each of the five NYC pension funds that together form the fourth-largest public pension system in the United States.

Should these funds, which oversee more than $300 billion in total assets, pursue BDS-aligned divestment approaches between 2025 and 2035, the projections include the following potential shortfalls.

Teachers Retirement System: $15.09 billion

New York City Employees Retirement System: $10.91 billion

Police Pension Fund: $7.13 billion

Fire Pension Fund: $3.02 billion

Board of Education Retirement System: $1.41 billion

Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL chief executive, noted that while some New York leaders including Mayor Mamdani have voiced support for the BDS movement, the findings underscore serious financial risks for the city pension funds.

The research demonstrates that BDS-guided divestment can represent poor fiscal practice and may worsen conditions in which Jewish New Yorkers already encounter targeting and exclusion, he added.

The ADL report builds on earlier JLens work from 2024 concerning university endowments that estimated $33 billion in forgone returns for the 100 largest endowments under a similar strategy.

Ari Hoffnung of JLens observed that the BDS movement has shifted focus from campuses to municipal governments, yet the investment calculations remain unchanged.

The 2024 study indicated $33 billion in potential losses for university endowments, and the current analysis shows that comparable assumptions could produce more than $37 billion in costs for NYC pension funds.

Regardless of whether the target is an endowment or a public pension system, the financial effects would be tangible and would ultimately affect the individuals served by these institutions, from educators and officers to firefighters.

The reports approach received review from prominent legal and financial specialists including Joshua Mitts, professor of law at Columbia University.

Mitts: Approach aligns with standard financial analysis

Mitts stated that the method follows established practices for assessing exclusionary investment strategies.

For investors with extended time horizons such as pension funds, evaluating the financial effects of such limits forms a key part of portfolio review, he noted.

The ADL projection rests on the prior ten-year performance of comparable portfolios and assumes that a similar difference would continue over the subsequent decade.