At least 300 high-ranking sheriffs and police from agencies large and small – from New York to California – have traveled to Israel for privately funded seminars in what is described as counterterrorism techniques, reports the Center for Investigative Reporting. For some, the training trips seem emblematic of the militarization of U.S. law enforcement since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Participants speak highly of the seminars, which began months after 9/11 when nine American police officials were invited to Israel to meet with the country’s public security minister. Since 2002, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee's Project Interchange and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs have sent several hundred police chiefs, assistant chiefs and captains on fully paid trips to Israel and the Palestinian territories to observe the operations of the Israeli national police, the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli Border Patrol and the country's intelligence services.