News Flash: Does your Police Department Receive Israeli Police Training?
By: Michael Springmann/Arab America Contributing Writer
News Flash! Durham, N.C. Bans Israeli Police Training
Why is this News?
Because Israel, often through its armed forces, trains American police. April 16, 2018, the Durham, NC city council resolution stated it was important to “recognize and share the deep concern about the militarization of police forces around the country”.
The Intercept noted, “It is not uncommon for residents of America’s most heavily policed neighborhoods to describe their local cops as ‘an occupying force.’ Judging by where many U.S. police forces get their training, the description seems apt.
Thousands of American law enforcement officers frequently travel for training to one of the few countries where policing and militarism are even more deeply intertwined than they are here: Israel.”
Israel’s Reach.
From Acworth, Ga. to Winder, Ga., U.S. police departments have sent delegates to Israel for instruction. In between were small and large cities and States, such as Boca Raton, Fla.; Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill., Maryland; Florissant, Mo.; and Washington, D.C. While there has been increased examination of American connections to various foreign powers, “U.S.-Israel police exchange programs have carried on without much public scrutiny.”
The Intercept wrote,
“The focus of this training is on riot suppression, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism — all of which are essentially irrelevant or should be irrelevant to the vast majority of police departments…They shouldn’t be suppressing protest, they shouldn’t be engaging in counterinsurgency, and almost none of them face any real threat from terrorism.”
This is military education, enforcing armed forces’ rule, rather than learning how to maintain order in civil society. In the United States, the posse comitatus act forbids the domestic use of the armed forces without authorization by Act of Congress or the Constitution. (18 U.S. Code Section 1835). Yet, police departments around the country rely on Israeli military training and act as soldiers in blue uniforms.
Why is this a Concern?
Apartheid-supporting Israel routinely uses its police and military forces to murder or maim Palestinians who protest the Zionist seizure of their land and property. This includes journalists, such as Yaser Murtaja and Ahmed Abu Hussein who covered the Great March of Return. Additionally, doctors, like the Canadian, Tarek Loubani, and medical workers, notably Razan al-Najjar, a 21-year-old nurse, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers during that same event.
Razan al-Najjar
American policemen are rough enough without the addition of Zionist brutality. Remember Black Lives Matter? “American police shoot and kill far more people than their peers in other countries.”
www.vox.com/cards/police-brutality-shootings-us/us-police-shootings-statistics
And that’s not because U.S. citizens are allowed to possess firearms. “Many military veterans make careers in policing. Some bring war home… Even as departments around the country have attempted a cultural transformation from ‘warriors” to ‘guardians,’ one in five police officers is literally a warrior, returned from Afghanistan, Iraq or other assignments.” Do they have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? Are they quicker to shoot at what they perceive as a new “enemy”? Only their psychiatrists know for sure. And how often and how thoroughly do the police forces screen their new recruits?
How do we stop this? Vigilance.
Scrutinize your local police force budget. See if it includes training in Israel. The website “Palestine is Here: Track US-Israeli State Violence from Palestine to Your City” (palestineishere.org ) lists city, county, and State law enforcement agencies getting brutality training from Zionists.
Get the federal government to stop selling surplus military equipment such as grenade launchers and armored cars to your local police department.
Insist that your police establish boards to review officer violence. Demand that they have teeth, rather than act as rubber stamps for the establishment.
Require that your beat cop not be a former soldier. Seek a thorough screening process for new hires.
To see if your city’s police department is being trained by Israel Click Here
Michael Springmann is an attorney, author, political commentator, and former diplomat. He has written Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked The World and a second book Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos? Merkel’s Migrant Bomb. Both are available on Amazon. The books’ website is: www.michaelspringmann.com