‘Boot on your neck’: Mamdani in 2023 blamed Israel for police violence in New York

NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani, the leading candidate in New York City’s mayoral race, blamed Israel for police violence in New York during a 2023 conference, according to video that surfaced on Monday.

“For anyone to care about these issues, we have to make them hyper-local. We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” Mamdani said at the 2023 national convention for the far-left Democratic Socialists of America.

“We have to make it materially connected to their life,” he said. “We are in a country where those connections abound, especially in New York City, you have so many opportunities to make clear the ways in which that struggle over there is tied to capitalist interests over here.”

Mamdani made the comments on a panel titled, “Socialist Internationalism: The Solution to the Crisis of Capitalism.” Much of his discussion on the panel focused on Israel.

In addition to the statement about police, Mamdani discussed how he got his start in political organizing with pro-Palestinian activism, criticized the US for supporting Israel’s military, and accused Israel of apartheid.

“Our socialism is a socialism of solidarity across all borders. That includes the Palestinians,” he said.

Mamdani is a longtime anti-Israel activist who has said the Palestinian cause is central to his identity. His anti-Israel rhetoric has alarmed many Jews, sparking a series of warnings from Jewish leaders who say that his vilification of Israel could spur hatred against Jews.

Jews in New York City are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group.

Mamdani is polling ahead of former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a pro-Israel centrist and his leading rival in the race, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Early voting has started in the city and the general election is on November 4.

The NYPD works with a range of international partners on intelligence and counter-terrorism, including Israel, Canada, the UK, France, Spain, Australia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Colombia and the Netherlands.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, said Mamdani’s statement about the police was discriminatory.

“There is a word for this kind of twisted fear mongering and conspiratorial thinking: antisemitism,” Greenblatt said on X.

Most of New York’s Democratic establishment has lined up behind Mamdani, including Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist representing part of Queens in the state assembly, won a stunning upset over Cuomo in the primary earlier this year to secure the Democratic Party nomination for the general election. Cuomo is running as an independent in the general election.

Mamdani has refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, and vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York City while Mamdani is mayor, although legal experts say the mayor would not have the authority to make such an arrest. Mamdani defended the phrase “Globalize the intifada” earlier this year, then later said he would “discourage” use of the slogan.

Before running for mayor, he identified as an anti-Zionist and voiced support for the so-called Holy Land Five, activists who are in prison for funding Hamas.

Mamdani’s expected win in the race has alarmed Jewish leaders. More than 1,000 rabbis, including prominent figures in New York City, signed an open letter last week opposing Mamdani and the “political normalization” of anti-Zionism. A leading Conservative rabbi in the city, Elliot Cosgrove, warned last week that Mamdani poses “a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community.”

Mamdani has drawn support from some Jews who are drawn to his progressive policies, and Jewish leftists have canvassed in support of his campaign.

Mamdani has pledged to support the Jewish community if he is elected and combat antisemitism, and released a plan for opposing anti-Jewish discrimination that focuses on education.