Mamdani explains to CNN why he said the IDF had laced the NYPD’s boots

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, speaks with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday, October 30, 2025. CNN

Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday responded to a widely shared 2023 clip in which he suggested that the New York Police Department and Israeli army were linked in oppression, the latest example of the Democratic mayoral nominee facing questions about his past record of anti-police and anti-Israel statements.

“We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani says in the clip, from a Democratic Socialists of America convention held that year. The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, are the armed forces of Israel.

“We have to make, not specifically that example all the time, but just to say that for working-cl