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

(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-class people who have very little time, who have so many stresses, who are under so many pressures, there isn’t that much time f