BDS could cost NYC taxpayers $37 billion, ADL-JLens analysis finds

New York City taxpayers could face over $37 billion in lost value during the next decade if the city's pension funds adopt investment policies aligned with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This projection comes from a new report by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and its affiliate, JLens.

The analysis compared the 10-year historical performance of two hypothetical large-cap US equity portfolios. One was broadly diversified, while the other excluded 47 major American companies targeted by BDS for their business dealings in Israel, including tech giants like Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft. The findings revealed that the BDS-excluded portfolio underperformed by roughly two percentage points per year. Compounded over time, this performance gap could lead to substantial losses.

When applied to the NYC pension funds' estimated large-cap US public equity allocations from 2025 to 2035, the report estimates approximately $37.55 billion in potential forgone value. The city's Teachers' Retirement system could lose an estimated $15.09 billion, the New York City Employees' System $10.91 billion, and the Police Pension Fund $7.13 billion, among others.

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While some in New York, including Mayor Mamdani, have publicly supported the BDS movement, this analysis highlights the potentially serious financial consequences of applying BDS-aligned divestment strategies to the city's pension funds.

"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. He added, "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 ADL report builds on previous JLens research from 2024, which found that a similar BDS-aligned strategy applied to the 100 largest university endowments could result in $33 billion in forgone gains over a decade. The movement has reportedly shifted focus from college campuses to city halls.

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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.