A high-profile 2016 order blocking New York from doing business with entities supporting the boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel does not apply to countries like Canada and the United Kingdom that are set to boycott products from Israeli settlements, Gov. Kathy Hochul's office said.
The executive order, first put in place by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, requires state entities to withdraw any money and assets invested in “companies and institutions” participating in BDS activities that target Israel. “If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you,” Cuomo said at the time.
Hochul’s administration now says the order won’t affect countries moving ahead with a prohibition on trade with the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. That’s because the state agencies controlled by the governor’s office can’t technically “invest” in foreign governments to begin with, according to the state Office of General Services (OGS), which administers the executive order.
“Foreign governments do not fall into the category of entities that the State could invest in,” the office said in a statement to Gothamist.
The administration’s interpretation allows Hochul, a Democrat who’s up for reelection this year, to sidestep the thorny politics of Israel’s settlements. It comes at a time when Israel’s war in Gaza and support for expanding settlements in the West Bank have drawn significant criticism not only from some foreign countries but from within the Democratic Party, a marked shift from when Cuomo first signed the order.
There is “a lot more open questioning about what Israel is doing in the region and their relationship with the United States,” said Basil Smikle, a Columbia University professor and former executive director of the state Democratic Party.
" She has to walk a fine line,” Smikle said of Hochul. “It's going to require an incredible amount of skill and a lot of groundwork to assuage concerns of constituents that have strong beliefs on both sides of this question. And so that's really where you get to see her political talent.”
Hochul, a staunch supporter of Israel, has kept the state’s anti-BDS order in place since taking office in 2021.
In 2022, her administration used the order to pressure Unilever, the parent company of Ben and Jerry’s, after the ice-cream maker vowed to stop all sales in the West Bank.
“New York has no tolerance for discrimination or hate, and I will continue to champion the powerful bond between our state and Israel,” Hochul said in a statement at the time. Unlilever ultimately sold the ice cream company’s operations in the region to an Israeli company, which continued sales in the West Bank.
But those comments capture a very different time in Israel’s relationship with the American public.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been a vocal proponent of BDS, and a trio of Democratic congressional candidates won New York City primaries earlier this year in part by criticizing Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
In a New York Times/Siena University survey released Tuesday, which polled Democrats across the country, 59% of Democratic voters polled said they sympathize more with Palestinians, while 18% said they sympathize more with Israel.
In a joint statement last week, the prime ministers of Canada, France and the UK reiterated their support for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and said Israel’s settlements were impeding progress toward that goal.
“Settlements are illegal under international law,” the prime ministers said in the statement. “The UK, France and Canada will therefore take steps to ban the importation of goods from settlements and enforce targeted measures against settlements and those who facilitate them or profit from them.”
Nine other countries — including Denmark, Finland and Sweden — have also said they intend to restrict trade with the settlements.
In New York, which has the largest Jewish population outside Israel, the politics of this issue remain complicated.
Hochul’s Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, has called the governor insufficiently supportive of Israel.
Assemblymember Nily Rozic, a Queens Democrat, said that the anti-BDS order could be strengthened.
“I think we should look at whether those protections are strong enough and whether there are gaps that need to be closed,” she said.
A Hochul spokesperson deferred comment to OGS, which declined to answer whether the governor believes any changes to the order are necessary given the action by the 12 countries — including Canada, which Hochul has consistently defended against President Trump’s tariffs.
Julie Rayman, senior vice president for policy and political affairs with the American Jewish Committee, a nonprofit advocacy group, said she remains confident in Hochul and that “ hate-based decisions on economic interests will not be tolerated.”
“ New York benefits from engagement with Israel, right?” Rayman said. “And I think that at the end of the day, that's going to be a really crucial part of this calculus.”
New York is one of more than 35 states that took some action against efforts to boycott or sanction Israel over the last decade.
The actions varied widely, from resolutions condemning the BDS movement to laws requiring that state contractors sign a pledge not to participate in any Israel boycotts – some of which drew lawsuits from civil liberties advocates.
Cuomo’s 2016 executive order required the state to maintain a list of companies and institutions participating in BDS activities.
That list, which is updated every six months, had 11 companies and institutions on it as of June, according to the Office of General Services. Most of those institutions had restricted business or investments in the West Bank, much like the 12 countries have pledged to do.
But it’s not clear whether New York state agencies actually had any business with the institutions on the list to begin with. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Office of General Services said all state entities have complied with the order, but declined to provide any examples of divestment.
New York state’s order, meanwhile, does not apply to the state’s biggest investment vehicle: its $309.7 billion pension fund, which pays out retirement benefits to many state and local government retirees.
The pension fund is overseen by the state Comptroller’s Office, which is not under the governor’s control and not subject to the anti-BDS order. But the fund has a similar policy of its own, prohibiting investment in companies that are “determined to be engaged in BDS activities,” according to Matt Sweeney, a spokesperson for Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
But the fund’s policy won’t restrict investment in foreign bonds from Canada, the UK and other countries who have vowed to sanction Israeli settlements, Sweeney said. He said it applies only to public companies and public equity.
