Israel Trains Pennsylvania Police Amid Human Rights Concerns

In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, local law enforcement participated in a controversial counter-terrorism training program based on Israeli military tactics. The program, “Combat Anti-Terror Training the Israeli Way,” is conducting several sessions throughout May in different areas of the state by Total Security International, LLC (TSI), a private company staffed by veterans of Israel’s “elite” security forces.

The initiative, funded by $300,000 in state appropriations secured by Senator Frank A. Farry and State Representatives Craig Staats, K.C. Tomlinson, Kristin Marcell, Shelby Labs and Joe Hogan, aims to train 120 officers in proactive engagement and tactical response strategies modeled on Israeli security practices. The training included 60 law enforcement officials who detail for the county’s tactical teams (SWAT) and 60 patrol officers and school resource officers.

Training

The three day program is split into classroom instruction on Israeli counter-terrorism philosophy, live-fire drills focused on operational shooting techniques and scenario-based tactical exercises in a local school.

“In today’s world, providing our deputies and local officers with the most advanced training possible is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” said Bucks County Sheriff, Fred Harran during a press conference. “This program brings world-class expertise directly to our community, enhancing our officers’ ability to protect schools and respond to critical incidents.”

TSI founder Gideon Lapin, a retired IDF infantry captain, emphasized that the training goes beyond technical skills. “We teach not just tactical shooting but how to identify threats early, gather intelligence and engage decisively. Our team’s background in Israel’s leading security and special forces units allows us to provide realistic, effective training right to the front lines here in Bucks County”, Lapin said.

He went on to say,

“What we bring to the table is not just showing people how to shoot or how to run. It’s the whole story of the Israeli mindset, the Israeli DNA, the Israeli striving for engagement.”

Supporters of the program, including local lawmakers like State Rep. Joe Hogan, argue that learning from Israeli security forces offers a valuable edge to local law enforcement.

State Sen. Frank Farry, a Republican and borough fire chief who helped secure the funding said, “I’m proud to have partnered with my colleagues in the House of Representatives to secure funding for this specialized training.”

Sheriff Harran pointed to the value of learning from Israeli experts who face security threats daily. Further showing his support for the occupying forces he stated,

 “We’re talking about the Israelis, the best of the best. There are no better than the Israeli military and special forces of Israel to come and teach this to us local law enforcement.”

“Every single day, they live with this, and we’re lucky that we don’t. But we need to be prepared. This is going to be another tool in the toolbox of law enforcement here in Bucks County to keep you safe.” Harran added.

Decades In the Making

These types of training sessions are nothing new for U.S. police departments. Since the early 1990s, hundreds of law enforcement officers, including police officers and agents from the FBI, CIA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have either been sent to Israel through police exchanges or attended summits within the US that were sponsored by Israeli lobby organizations. According to Amnesty International, police departments from around the country including Maryland New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington and the DC Capitol police have traveled to Israel for training. While thousands of other departments have received training from Israeli officials in the U.S.

Many of these trips are taxpayer funded while others are privately funded. Since 2002, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) have paid for police chiefs, assistant chiefs and captains to train in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Problematic Training

Amnesty International, human rights organizations and even the U.S. Department of State have cited Israeli police for carrying out executions, unlawful killings, ill treatment and torture (even against children), suppression of freedom of expression including through government surveillance and excessive force against peaceful protesters.

The Department of Justice report cited Baltimore police for using aggressive tactics that “escalate encounters and stifle public cooperation.” This leads, the report said, to use of unreasonable force during interactions for minor infractions, such as quality of life matters.  Furthermore, the report details how an overall lack of training leads to excessive force being used against those with mental health issues, juveniles and people who present “little or no threat against others,” such as those already restrained.

Leading human rights groups have denounced the exchange programs, warning that Israeli police standards and tactics only serve to exacerbate racial profiling and police brutality in the US.

“With a long record of human rights violations, Israeli security forces are an incredibly problematic training partner,” Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International USA’s researcher for arms control, security and human rights told the Middle East Eye in 2020.

Activists have spoken out against the training exercises since they gained popularity after the attacks on 9/11, with Israel marketing itself as a global leader in counterterrorism. JINSA alone has sent at least 200 American police officers to Israel for training in the wake of 9/11 and has hosted 10 conferences across the United States, with a combined attendance of over 10,500 law enforcement personnel. 

Meanwhile, the New York Police Department (NYPD) even has its own branch in Israel, opened at the Sharon District Police Headquarters in 2012. In fact, the department’s discriminatory Muslim surveillance program was modeled in part, after Israel’s surveillance program used on Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003 also established a special office in Israel, which has institutionalized the relationship between Israeli and American law enforcement.

Because of Israel’s notoriety for its excessive use of force tactics, many human rights groups have launched campaigns trying to end the US-Israeli police training programs. 

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a grassroots anti-occupation group, has helped create several localized coalition campaigns working to stop the militarization of US police forces, which especially focus on ending law enforcement exchanges with Israel. 

After years of lobbying by one of those JVP coalitions, in April 2018, the City Council in Durham, North Carolina, voted unanimously to bar its police department from taking part in “military-style training” programs abroad, becoming the first American city to bar police training in Israel. 

That same year, another coalition of social justice groups backed by JVP succeeded in getting California’s Alameda County Board of Supervisors to end its Urban Shield program, which sponsored exchanges with Israel and other countries.

“For the first time in 20 years, the all-expenses-paid trips to Israel where American law enforcement are trained by the Israeli military and police have run into a snag,” JVP said in a statement at the time. 

The Pentagon has given American police departments more than $7.2bn worth of surplus military equipment over the past 20 years, which amounts to about two years worth of the annual US foreign military aid Israel receives. 

Meanwhile, Israeli police and military forces can be hard to tell apart in terms of weaponry and tactics, and its training of US police officers is also often directed by military officials. 

Growing Trend

The training in Bucks County reflects a growing trend of U.S. law enforcement adopting foreign policing models, particularly those developed in Israel. Supporters cite the value of learning from a country with extensive experience combating terrorism, while opponents warn that such training could worsen already existing issues of police brutality, racial profiling and civil rights violations in the U.S.

As more Americans question police brutality and demand accountability, programs like these should be raising concern about teaching tactics designed for military operations. Israel’s policing strategies are deeply intertwined with its role as an occupying force in the Palestinian territories. An environment defined by surveillance, control and frequent use of excessive force. Adopting these types of methods risks reinforcing a mindset of domination into American communities, especially those already over-policed and marginalized.